When Lir returns to Cobbleshore after many years away, he finds it much the same as when he left. Some people are gone, and some grown up, and there are new children, new houses, and new boats.

There is also a hermit on Great Skerry, a tiny island up the coast that was previously only home to seals. At the request of an old friend, Lir sails to Great Skerry to talk to the hermit--a young man named Andry who was once in love with a seal woman.