A beautiful young heiress, Perenna Holland, falls on hard times. She enlists Roy Slingsby, estate agent and bon vivant, to sell the family manse.

Once into the assignment, he uncovers an album of stamps with a singular story to tell.

Slingsby sets out to trace its origin. He joins a ship where the cargo is contraband, sails to an island seething with rebellion and finds the stamps are tied to a dark secret in Perenna's family. How will she take this information?