Bella is thrilled to be joining her mum on an expedition to study penguins on the Antarctic coast. While exploring one of the islands she discovers an unusual penguin with a pale brown coat instead of the typical black. But before Bella can investigate further, she spots an old pirate ship sailing to the island, then she blinks -and it disappears !
Bella is convinced that she imagined it, until she goes out searching for the pale penguin again and bumps into a boy named Jules. He has arrived with a group of sailors from the 1800s, and they're desperate to catch the rare penguin for themselves.