After a mutiny from his crew leaves him adrift, ex-pirate Johannes Barrichello is indentured by a strange doctor to investigate the Vhaat, a sea-born phenomenon that bends the laws of nature, and its ties to "The Living Death", a disease that causes people to rot. Johannes is told he must help find the cure for his freedom, but between his suspicions about the doctor and old grudges coming to find him, he isn't set on sticking it out until the end.
