This early twentieth-century Nova Scotia novel explores the world of small fishing communities where religion and background are a source of family conflict.
Mercy Nickerson's father, returns from a voyage to the Caribbean with a young Irishmen he has saved from a shipwreck. Mercy and Dan are instantly attracted to one another. Rather than go to Boston, he decides to stay and turn his ambition to the fishery and ship supply. But his desired haven becomes a more dangerous place than he intended when he turns to smuggling and his wife turns against him.