Philippa Marshall, a young war widow, travelled to a beautiful but remote island off the Maine coast to teach school. She was caught up in the smoldering conflicts of the island families.

Though the fisherman of Bennett’s Island used modern power boats, they followed the sea as their forebears had- and lived by a tradition hard for an outsider to grasp. Philippa Marshall gallantly undertook this island venture to provide a livelihood for herself and her young son but she also hoped that here she might find friendship and affection to fill her empty heart.