'You killed her, Ethan Truitt.' These terrible words haunt 12-year-old Ethan after he moves with his family from Boston to a tiny town in Georgia. Stuck in his grandfather's gloomy house, guilt-ridden Ethan can't stop thinking about his role in the 'incident' that took his best friend Kacey from him. In a sea-side community full of eccentrics, and feeling that he doesn't fit in at his new school, Ethan is surprised to be befriended by enigmatic Coralee Jessup, self-proclaimed violin prodigy, boarding school expellee, and expert storyteller. But mysterious things soon begin to happen. As Ethan and his family struggle to make sense of both the past and the future, warnings of a coming hurricane rock the sleepy town.