A feisty teenager, Katie Andrew goes with her family each summer to fish the Labrador waters. When her father is lost at sea, Katie's mother stubbornly refuses to leave the outport and waits for him to return even when all hope is lost. Soon Katie's entire family falls ill, and her mother dies. Katie awakens after her illness in the orphanage run by the Grenfell Mission. She is devastated by the disappearance of her baby sister, who has been adopted by a well-to-do photographer and his family. A Sky Black with Crows takes Katie through a series of events that are as vital to her search for her sister as they are insightful of the history of the Atlantic region at a time when Canada was about to make its early mark on the world.