Virginia Davies Clark and her husband, Professor Andy Clark, have no idea what's in store for them as they attended an estate auction in Georgetown, Texas. Virginia won the bid for an antique quilt and a ships-log from the mid-1700s. Upon leaving the auction, someone attempted to rob her of the quilt.

Later, after examining the quilt and glancing through the logbook, Virginia discovers they are from a French ship chartered by a French count to clandestinely delivering chests of gold to the American Sons of Liberty during the Revolutionary War. According to the log, the ship was attacked and crippled by a British Man-of-War, but it managed to get away to make repairs and hide the remaining chests of gold. But the log and quilt also show where the ship sank in the Gulf of Mexico in a hurricane after fleeing New England.

When the Smithsonian sends Virginia to find the lost ship and the remaining gold, trouble starts-danger and turmoil mount as Virginia, a Coast Guard special agent, and Virginia's colleagues struggle to overcome cutthroat pirate attacks in the Gulf of Mexico and by a Mexican drug lord financed by a mysterious person in the U.S. who also wants the treasure.

Intrigue mounts as Virginia and her friend Dr. Terry Sorenson weave together additional clues from the quilt and a mysterious Revolutionary War vintage bottle from the shipwreck about the possible location of the French gold. In New England, Virginia and Terry must locate and recover the gold and stop the shadowy individual financing the killers in the high-stakes conclusion of the action-filled adventure.