It is 1931 and the villagers of Kinvara are welcoming newcomers into their close-knit community. Schoolteacher Catherine Dunbar takes a great interest in the welfare and education of Andy Sutherland, who has cerebral palsy - and comes to have more than a passing interest in his father, Rob. Joshua Bowman is a less popular arrival, as he tries to force his strict principles and beliefs on his neighbours; and his wife Miriam - a native of Kinvara - has a dramatic effect on Johnny Lonely, to whom she was once married. But it is mainly on the children of Kinvara that the novel focuses, as they delight in the freedom and adventure of the beautiful coastal area, and grapple with the first stirrings of young and innocent love.