Ardis reached out for the glowing jewel encased in its thick, crude mounting of gold. She gazed incredulously at the ring, unable to believe that she held in her hand the famous pirated Sea Star Emerald.

When Ardis' colleague, Red Michaels, is found crushed to death by a fallen beam in the wreck of the 1858 clipper ship, the Fortune, she flies to Galveston to take over his search for the ship's treasures and to head the Fortune exhibit at the local museum.

Known to be aboard the sunken ship is a notorious jewel once stolen by the infamous pirate, Jean Lafitte, the Sea Star Emerald. Oliver Harrington, believing the gem to be the lost Harrington heirloom, traveled to America to purchase the Sea Star from an auction in New Orleans and was returning to England when the Fortune sank.

Ardis soon discovers that modern-day treasure hunters are determined to beat her to the jewel. After she retrieves the gem from the ocean's depths, the Sea Star Emerald is pirated again.

Before the exhibit opens, Ardis is arrested for the crime. She suspects that she has been skillfully set up by the Harrington family. Or is she facing some unknown thief who has been relentlessly pursuing the jewel? With time running out, she must face a vicious killer and prove her innocence.