Sixteen-year-old Anne, mischievous and spirited as ever, returns to Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island, to teach in the village school where she herself was taught.
Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin sail to Australia with a hold full of convicts, including a dangerous spy, while the crew is decimated by disease and their ship, the "Leopard," is pursued by a Dutch man-of-war.