Dr. Farran Mackenzie didn't know she had a past, until her one link to it had been snapped.

Raised by her independent mother, Farran had come to accept that she belonged to a family of two. And that had satisfied both of them until her mother's sudden death revealed glimpses of unknown people and places—including Farran's mother. Where did she come from? Who were her family? And what was the significance of a newspaper headline reporting the sudden discovery of a body, hundreds of miles away?

For the first time in forty years, one of the Lost Villages of the St Lawrence Seaway had emerged from their burial place beneath the flood waters. An unusually dry summer had laid bare streets, foundations, and the remains of a young man tied up in an ancient sleeping bag—Farran's father.

Taking advantage of a much needed sabbatical from her position teaching history at the University of Waterloo, Farran rents a cottage on Ault Island in the St Lawrence and sets about finding her parents. Her first discovery proves a shock. No one had known it was even possible that she could exist. Yet the distress the old-timers from the Lost Villages feel upon learning that Farran's father had died and her mother had lived pales when two who could most likely sort it out turn up dead.

Under the watchful eye of Detective Inspector Jerry Strauss, Farran begins applying her research skills to learn more about the people and events leading up to July 1, 1958, when the great waters of the St Lawrence Seaway were unleashed, tearing apart communities, and destroying her family. But will she uncover the river's secrets—and her father's murderer—before it is too late?