The island is nearly deserted, haunting, and beautiful. Across a slip of ocean lies South Carolina. But for the handful of families on Yamacraw Island, America is a world away. For years, the people here lived proudly from the sea, but now its waters are not safe.

Waste from industry threatens their very existence unless, somehow, they can learn a new way. But they will learn nothing without someone to teach them, and their school has no teacher—until one man gives a year of his life to the island and its people.

Pat Conroy's extraordinary drama is based on his own experience—the true story of a man who gave a year of his life to an island and the new life its people gave him.