A pirate and voodoo priestess lift a deadly curse on those they love. Do they dare let a relationship blossom amid danger? 

Charles Moore relishes his dangerous life as the pirate Hatchet. Manning a clipper ship keeps his mind off the role he played in the Civil War. But now an ancient curse has killed two of his loves, and he can't ignore the whispers that New Orleans's Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau herself, has hexed his family.

Creole widow Hope Leblonc bristles under the city's Black Codes that have stripped her of so many freedoms and forced her practice of voodoo underground. When Hatchet seeks her help in lifting the curse, she concedes under one condition. He must steal back a family relic she needs to become a mambo in her religion.

But they're both holding secrets that endanger their lives. When ghosts from the past exact revenge for the skeletons in the Moore family closet, will Hope and Hatchet discover that love is worth the risk in time to survive the coming darkness?