In 1872, the American merchant vessel Mary Celeste was discovered adrift off the coast of Spain. Her cargo was intact, but the crew was gone. They were never found. A writer named Arthur Doyle hears of the Mary Celeste and decides to write an outlandish story about what took place. This story causes quite a sensation back in the States, particularly between sought-after Philadelphia spiritualist medium Violet Petra and a journalist named Phoebe Grant, who is seeking to expose Petra as a fraud.