When the fiercest storm in living memory pounds the shores of 19th century Cornwall, wrecking ships and bringing death and destruction to seafarers and coastal communities, a young girl is found, barely alive, washed up among the rocks of a remote North Cornish cove. Her arrival and the mystery surrounding her background will affect the lives of those who come to know her and, for Alice Kilpeck in particular, nothing will ever be the same again.