Thirteen-year-old Simon Renier has no idea when he boards the M.S. Orion with his cousin Forsyth Phair that their journey to Venezuela will be a dangerous one. His original planto return a family heirloom, a portrait of Simon Bolivar, to its rightful placeis sidetracked when cousin Forsyth is found murdered. When the portrait is stolen, all passengers and crew are suspects. Simons newfound friends, Poly and Charles OKeefe, and their scientist father help Simon try to find his painting, and his cousins murderer. But will they succeed before they land? Or will the murderer and thief escape into the jungles of Venezuela?