Quoyle is a hapless, hopeless journalist living and working in New York. While weathering the storm that is his marriage of one way love for no good wife Petal, disaster strikes, and Petal is killed in a spectacular road accident. Set adrift on an aimless quest, Quoyle heads for the land of his forefathers - to the remote corners of far-flung Newfoundland. With his delinquent daughters, Bunny and Sunshine, in tow, Quoyle takes up the post of shipping news reporter, and finds himself part of an unfolding, exhilarating Atlantic drama.