Moira knows there has to be a reason why she was forced to leave Ireland after her father's drowning, and the secrets her mother keeps aren't calming her curiosity and desire to learn the truth. Her only link to the past is her best friend, Cillian, and even he has grown quiet as Moira's eighteenth birthday approaches. But when Cillian finally agrees to take her back to Ireland, and Moira sees the fierce waves and the seals that watch her from the rocks, the stories hidden from her suddenly begin to make sense. Her family has been feuding with the selkies, the seal people that surround the village, for years, causing the numerous drownings that lead her mother to fear the water so much. Moira can end the issue - she's supposed to marry a selkie prince once she's eighteen, forever tying her people with the seals. Moira has only just discovered the life hidden from her, and going to live with the seals would mean giving up the life she's always wanted to live. She doesn't want to give herself up to the sea. It will have to come for her.