The people of Carrick Island have been whispering behind Neen's back ever since her father drowned and her mother disappeared. The townspeople say her mother was a merrow and has returned to the ocean. Neen, caught in her hazy new in-between self-not a child, but not quite grown up-can't help but wonder if the villagers are right. But if her mother was a merrow, then what does that make Neen?