The story takes place in the 1940s (yes, the author knows the train did not run at that time) on Nantucket, the quintessential idyllic island thirty miles out to sea. When a couple chooses to visit for the very first time, they quickly adapt and fall in love with the tranquil, everyday pace, quaint shops, cobblestone streets, gas streetlights, and new friends. They purchase a summer home in Sconset. Everything is peacefuluntil one day when they are entwined in a murder that has ties to their family.