Dark Wind is the true story of a whirlwind, midlife romance and two lovers' pursuit of a life of adventure on the high seas. Gordon Chaplin tells the tale of a catastrophic sailing journey he and his partner, Susan Atkinson, undertook across the Pacific Ocean. Having separately navigated broken first marriages and two decades of child-rearing, they had rediscovered passion and a thrilling new life together.

But an idyllic sailing escapade through the Marshall Islands ends in tragedy when they decide to ride out a typhoon on their sailboat, Lord Jim, rather than abandon ship for the safety of the shore. By the time it is clear that the storm has altered its course toward them, it is too late to act, and they are trapped in the path of a furious tropical storm.

Did the pattern of the lovers' lives lead inexorably to disaster? And when faced with that disaster, did Chaplin acquit himself? Chaplin's brutally honest accounting of his actions and his poignant reflections on his love affair are powerful and moving.