David Balfour is a 17 year old boy whose parents have just died. Having been left alone in the world he turns for help to his uncle Ebenezer Balfour. Ebenezer is a mean-spirited, miserly man who not only cheats him out of his inheritance but also sees to his kidnapping on a ship and consequently a life of suffering. But this is not all for young David. When a highland Jacobite, Alan Breck Stewart, is pulled on board the circumstances lead to their friendship and once his high-sea adventure comes to an end David will find himself fighting by Alan in an undreamt-of war against the English rule over Scotland.