Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, escaping the consequences of long-buried family secrets and forced to accept that he'll never marry the woman he desires, joins the Merchant Navy. But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German U-boat. An American cruise liner rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and an American who dies in the night, providing Harry the chance to escape his tangled past.

"1912. Released from the Secret Service, Wiggins sets out for New York and his lost-lover Bela. But after an altercation on board, he finds himself among the low-life of Britain's poorest city, Dublin. Wiggins falls in with gangster Patrick O'Connell and is soon driving the boss's girlfriend around town. Molly wants O'Connell to support her Irish nationalist cause - a cause needing guns to defeat the British--and then they go to find them in America....