Meghan and Sara suffer the loss of their mother at the hands of a drunk driver but their father, David, is devastated and unable to recover from the loss. In an act of desperation, he uproots the girls from all they know, school, family and friends and seeks solace on the ocean aboard a sailboat. Together, the family heads for a new life in the islands of the Caribbean. As the months slip by the crew become proficient sailors but on a stormy night David disappears overboard leaving the girls orphans on the high seas. The Coast Guard searches in vain but the girls refuse to surrender to their fate although they are held captive by the bureaucracy. Unwilling to remain helpless bystanders, Meghan contrives to get her old boyfriend Matt to join them and the trio absconds with the family yacht to out run both the officials and Matt's father in a dangerous game of hide and seek on the high seas. The search for their missing father forces them to elude authorities and dodge the dangerous reefs surrounding the deserted islands where they hope he has washed up on shore. This is a story of adolescent independence and fierce determination without the aid of extraordinary powers or the intervention of mystical forces.