Bess Bridges is a simple American tavern girl when a military captain 
named Spencer asks her to marry him.  Before they can wed, however, Spencer kills 
a man in a bar fight and is forced to ship out in order to avoid trouble.  Spencer 
leaves Bess ownership of a bar back in Foy called the Windmill, and bids her go 
there and wait for his return.  While in Fayal fighting the Spanish, Spencer is 
severely wounded and news of his death reaches Bess.  Spencer survives the wound 
and makes an attempt to get back to Bess to tell her the truth.

       Meanwhile, Bess and her misfit crew set out in a black ship called the 
Raven on a mission to retrieve Spencer's body.  By a stroke of luck (or fate?) the 
two lovers end up shipwrecked on the same island and share the "hospilality" of 
Fez's dictator the mighty Mullisheg.  When Mullisheg falls in love with the fair 
Bess, her crew must devise a plot to escape or all perish.