It is the year of the Lord 1690. Cartagena is destroyed. Capt'n Flint's ship - the "Walrus" - with Bill Bones at the helm is sailing onto the open sea heading for "Isla de Margarita" - Pearl Island.
At the same time, Capt'n Flint, Silver and Israel Hands have no choice but to take the route across the marshes to the southeast with a course for Maracaibo. With this destination in mind, they fight their way through the jungle, through swamps and mountains. Their unbridled rage and their clear view of the future let Flint, Silver and Hands defy the Spanish and brave hunger, thirst and fever. When they cross the mountain range of Sierra Parija and reach the trade route between San Cristobal and Maracaibo, only two of them are left. They reach the monastery at the foot of St Ignacius Picco los Torres - the rumbling mountain.
The monastery is a place where Spanish, Dutch, French, English and Indians meet - routes from all directions cross at this mission at the gates of Maracaibo. Flint and Silver enter an alliance with the escaped female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Together they help Brother Hironimus and Pater Noster and all residents of St Ignatius against Don Calvados and his soldiers. But the wily pirate hunter Stede Bonnet and the merchant van Klooten foil their escape. When Bonnet instigates a conspiracy with the Spanish and even kills Sir Ruck, a royalist officer of the English Navy, Flint knows what is up. Everyone, king or vassal, are after one and the same thing - the treasure of Killigrew.
Flint and his men are once again trapped. But the entreaties of the Indian Alto Gracio make the gods hold a protecting hand over Flint, and mere chance comes to their aid. An extraordinary natural disaster destroys the mission of St Ignatius. Flint, Silver, Anne Bonny and Mary Read manage to escape the hell of Maracaibo. This time, they have escaped the Spanish and nothing but a "life at sea" can promise them true freedom.