Annabel Boase sells Fosfelle, her adored home on the East Cliff, to lay down the keel of a Cornish lugger - 'Waterwitch' - a gift for her new-wedded husband. When she later embarks upon a forbidden affair with her handsome young brother-in-law, she cannot foresee the troubled legacy she will bequeath to the next four generations of Maddavers and Tollers. The novel follows Annabel's descendents through seventy turbulent years that end violently for the 'Waterwitch', pride of Trevander's fishing fleet but lead to new beginnings for the interwoven families