"I am thirty years old" begins the narrator of this tale and so begins the story of how a young Englishman Ashley, carved himself a lucrative career in crime from childhood to the present day. He outlines in detail his notoriety and expertise in numerous forms of mischief until the day justice finally caught up with him and he was sentenced to spend a few years on the British Naval training ship Trafalgar. After promptly escaping he meets a mysterious woman but will she be a blessing or a curse to him and his life of crime?