Seventeen-year-old Stella Ainsley, desperate to leave the floundering Stalwart, finds employment on the haunted space-ship Rochester. Exiled from Earth, the remnants of the human race circle the solar system in slowly disintegrating space-ships, but the Rochester seems in perfect condition. When a series of accidents threatens the charismatic captain, Hugo Fairfax, Stella is determined to find the saboteur and win his love. But there is a terrible secret behind the Rochester's haunting, and soon Stella must make an impossible choice.