A colorful and riveting tale of 20th Century pirates based on true events against the exotic background of Southeast Asia during World War II. The war and the Japanese occupation of Thailand have detrimental effect on the lives of the director, the guards, and 3,000 inmates of a penal colony on the island of Tarutao in the Andaman Sea three miles from British Malaya. Nine British and American prisoners of war are sent to be imprisoned on Tarutao by the Japanese occupying force. Continuous shortages of food and medicine force the prison director, the guards, and the inmates into committing acts of piracy on ships passing near Tarutao. The nine POWs must choose between joining the pirates or upholding their moral code and facing the consequences. Danger, suspense, and action revealing courage and cruelty dominate the story, reaching its climax in a chess match of wits between the pirates on Tarutao and the British forces for control of the seas around Tarutao after World War II.