The sensitive, probing story of a young man who comes to teach school in a coastal village facing the Atlantic. Into his narrow, lonely man's world there bursts the enigmatic presence of a girl-child. Stricken, silent, suspicious, the girl comes with the man, is fed and clothed, warmed by his presence. Gradually she learns to live with her memories, to accept what has happened to her, to repair the damaged fingers of her mind. This is a haunting story of loneliness, of fear, of love.