Summer, 1951. Miranda Schuyler's mother marries Hugh Fisher, whose summer house on Winthrop Island overlooks the famous lighthouse. Isobel Fisher, Miranda's new stepsister, is eager to draw Miranda into the arcane customs of Winthrop society. Miranda finds herself drawn to Joseph Vargas, whose father keeps the lighthouse. Joseph works summers in the lobster boats, attends Brown University, and enjoys an intense friendship with Isobel. Summer, 1969....

The Kings family has been fishing lobster for 300 years and is descended from a famous painter who, family legend has it, was married to a mermaid. Now, however, their waters are being invaded by the rough men who work at an overfished neighboring harbor and who dabble in delivering boatloads of meth. Cordelia, the eldest of the three daughters, loves the work and is the obvious heir to her aging father's business, but her favored place has come at...

"When Meg's father decides to sell his Prince Edward Island lobster fishing business to her high school nemesis Oliver, she sets out to prove she should inherit it instead. But there is more than just a fleet on the line: her heart is, too"--

Ruth Thomas returns from boarding school to join her family in their Maine island lobster fishing business which is in a age-old fishing feud with other local lobstermen.