In the 19th century village of Penperro, Cornwall, life is looking dim for the villagers who rely on smuggling more than fishing for their daily bread. The Preventive Water Guard has come to town, and stationed a boat in their very own harbor.
Tom Trewella is not one to be defeated by a little thing like a boatload of the king's men. When a singer on the run takes refuge in a cottage nearby, he devises a plan to distract the tax men from their duties: Penperro will have a mermaid.
Konstanze will do anything to stay hidden in the wilds of Cornwall. If that means donning a fish tale and splashing about while singing operatic arias, she'll do it. For the proper fee, of course.
What neither of them expect, though, is the danger that can come when a man outside the law lands a mermaid who is anything but a cold fish.