Mr. Jeorling, desperate to leave the Kerguelen Islands and return to his home town in Connecticut, insists on leaving with the first ship that arrives to the island. Although not initially favorable to the idea, Captain Len Guy of the Halbrane eventually agrees to transport Mr. Jeorling to Tristan D'Cunha. On the voyage, the captain confides to Mr. Jeorling that his brother, Captain William Guy, was the captain of the Jane Guy—the very ship that was supposedly fiction in Edgar Allan Poe's The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym! As the voyage continues, Captain Len Guy becomes determined to sail the Southern Seas to search for and save his brother—if he is still alive. Beyond Tsalal Island, mutiny ferments in the ranks of the men, and the hazards of the southern seas confront the crew constantly. Soon it becomes clear, their own lives are at risk. In a marriage of survival and discovery, the crew unexpectedly discovers something else—the fate of the Jane Guy and her crew, but will they live to tell about it?