An eerie phone call from his father puzzles Tom McDermott, a New York magazine editor. Shortly after, he learns that his father's body has been found on a beach near his home on the north Atlantic coast of Ireland. Forced to visit Ireland to sort out the funeral arrangements, Tom discovers the land of his forebears for the first time--the wild beauty of land and seas, the warmth of the people, and the undercurrents of age-old divisions. He begins to receive regular visitations from his father's ghost and gradually becomes aware of supernatural influences in his own ancestry. Above all, he finds that he must face up to elements of his psyche that until now he has been able to ignore. A return to his frenetic but, at heart, solitary New York existence begins to seem almost impossible. Told from an American point-of-view, Tom's experiences in his homeland--his "home turf"--provide the reader with a great deal of fascinating information as Tom gradually learns more and more about contemporary Ireland and its culture.