May 29, 1940. Fourteen-year-old Colin Neville and his parents sail their schooner, Marie Celine, in the first convoy of the "Little Ships of Dunkirk" to rescue the British Expeditionary Forces off the beaches of Dunkirk. During the perilous journey, Colin loses his parents, his boat, and his memory. Years later with his memory now intact, Colin sets out to find and retrieve Marie Celine-The Angel Ship. Determined to sail her in the last commemoration of the Dunkirk rescue, he eventually locates her in France where she is now a shrine to the French Resistance-and the French veterans there vow to fight to keep her. The media gets involved, and soon British veterans of Dunkirk arrive to battle for the Little Ship that is to them a monument to the war's turning point and a symbol of the endurance of the British people. The fight for Marie Celine causes an upwelling of old resentments between the French and the British, which precipitates an international incident. Colin again faces another great loss. Yet, against all odds, he finds redemption and discovers a new found belief in the resilience of the human spirit.