Turner Buckminster is not just the son of the new minister in a small Maine town; he is also shunned for playing baseball differently than the local boys. Then he befriends the smart and lively Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from Malaga Island, a community founded by former slaves.

Lizzie shows Turner a new world along the Maine coast, from digging clams to rowing a boat next to a whale. When the powerful town elders, including Turner’s father, decide to drive the people off the island to set up a tourist business, Turner stands alone against them.

He and Lizzie try to save her community, but there’s a terrible price to pay for going against the tide.