Aboard a cargo ship on a hazardous voyage, ominous prophecies cause troubling misapprehensions, disputes, paranoia, and ultimately tragedy. Émile Lannec thinks it's madness for his wife, Mathilde, to join him on the maiden voyage of his freighter, the Tonnerre-de-Dieu . She had insisted on coming, probably at the behest of her mother, Madame Pitard, who cosigned the loan to buy the ship. Predictably, Mathilde is appalled by the rough-and-ready conditions below deck, and she antagonizes the all-male crew. Compounding Lannec's strain is an ominous unsigned note he found on board, warning that the ship "will not reach safe haven." As they're battered by harsh winds and tides, emotions fray, the couple fights, and Lannec's suspicions spiral into paranoia. Which of his boatmates wrote the threatening note? And why did Mathilde really come? A tautly mesmerizing tale with the transcendent tenor of Greek tragedy, The Pitards sets man against nature while unmasking his true foes: gullibility, insecurity, and pride.