A rip-roaring fantasy adventure, Pirate Islands sees 15-year old Kate and her younger brother and sister trapped inside a computer game set on an island controlled by swashbuckling pirates. They soon discover that the only way home is to finish the game-by beating the pirates and the castaway children to the hidden pirate treasure.

The strain of juggling her responsibilities as wife, mother, and successful paralegal have worn Emma Burke out. Thus it is that Emma welcomes the opportunity to briefly take leave of her Boston home and head for sunny Hawaii. It is not, however, a pleasure trip: Having promised to honor the dying wishes of her Hawaiian-born surrogate mother. Leaving her husband, Mike, behind to care for their two children, Emma arrives in Hawaii for the first time since childhood, where she is reunited with her childhood friend Kala, the handsome son of her late surrogate parent.