A young, up-and-coming Swedish officer is suddenly and traumatically forced into the role of victim, as his newly wedded bride is defiled and murdered by pirates. His mode of survival is to become someone new, who works hard to suppress the memory of his own victimhood. He insinuates himself with the perpetrators and becomes captain of their ship. Only years later, when a new woman is able to touch his heart, he re-discovers the seat of his buried pain and turns against his own brood to avenge his slaughtered bride and his own slaughtered innocence.