Just like the woman in the legend that haunts her and after whom she is named, fourteen-year-old Rikst de Bruin loves beachcombing after the winter storms that bring treasures to the shores of the island where she lives. Then one day she and her friend stumble across a body on the beach and see what appears to be the ghost of Rixt, the witch of the bird sanctuary. But when they return to the beach after summoning help, the body has disappeared. Rikst and her friends try to figure out what happened to the body, and what three mysterious strangers are doing on their small island.