Part One: Bonanza
Jack Shaftoe was sick with syphilis and has been insane for three years. He has been a slave during that timing along with a group that calls themselves "Cabal," and who are pirates of the Atlantic Ocean. They intercept a smuggler's ship sending themselves money from the New World, but they hijack the ship and its enormous treasury of gold. They sail the gold to Cairo, Egypt to prevent their discovery. In Cairo, Jack kills an important investor who stole Jack's wife from him ten years before.
They are attacked but escape, this time to Mocha. They realize that their ship is blacklisted across all European ports, and they sail to India to try their luck there. Before long, a pirate queen overcomes their ship and steals their gold. Some pirates disperse to join militias and gangs, and Jack ends up in Ahmedabad where he finds a job at an animal hospital. After some time, the Cabal reunites for a scheme. They use poisonous gas made from urine to pass through a local gang that plagues an important trade route, and the Indians reward Jack by making him a petty king.
He is allowed three years' dominion over a poor state of India. He makes a ship and contacts the pirate queen for an investment. Before long, Jack's dream vessel is prepared. Enoch, a local shaman and alchemist advices him against naming the ship "Eliza," and he names her "Minerva" instead. They travel through Asia delivering goods from India to Japan, building the power of the state. They acquire mercury, an important and valuable chemical used in alchemy. A plan to be reunited with Eliza makes Jack walk into a trap, and after the ambush, he is imprisoned until Louis XIV frees him for helping in an attack on the London Tower.
Part Two: The Juncto
We learn through Bob Shaftoe's discovered correspondence about what happened to Eliza. She was captured by Jean Bart during an attempt to reach London. She ends up trapped in an estate in Dunkerque. She is approached by political figures and invited to invest in various wars across Europe. Without much room for negotiation, she finds herself drained of funds. She returns to life as a normal duchess.
She learns that the duc d'Arcachon stole her and her mother from the mythic island of Qwghlm. Eliza decides on revenge. Before she can commit the murder, she learns that Jack slayed him himself and swore it was vengeance on Eliza's own behalf. Eliza is fearful for her life and marries Etienne to dispel local suspicions about her and Jack. Eliza is embroiled in some scandalous political trouble, including an illegitimate child. She comes out ahead, richer than ever.
We learn that Eliza is in the same community as important thinkers. We meet Isaac Newton while he is struggling to formulate his universal theory about reality, but the group of thinkers, "The Juncto," are worried about him. Eliza almost dies from smallpox, but doesn't. After some more political beef gets cleared up, Eliza forms a pleasant relationship with Newton's rival, Leibniz. She retires wealthy and powerful.
