On New Year's Day, 1896, the four-masted square rigger Neptune's Car is in the midst of a torturous maiden voyage, her crew driven to murder and near mutiny by the brutal reality of life below deck on a "hellship" during tile age of sail. Meanwhile, the owner's daughter is aboard the luxurious private yacht Atalanta. As both Atalanta and Neptune's Car arrive in San Francisco on the eve of the Bryan-McKinley presidential election, the increasing chasm between the haves and have-nots threatens to erupt into riot and insurrection.