Having been banished to live with her father, Anna, a bright but troubled 15-year-old, arrives to the quaint village of Santa Maria de la Campana, a town named for its famous bell, which no one has seen for generations.
Kipling, her father, operates a small field station perched atop a nearby cove known as the Bay of Crabs, a spot ironically devoid of crabs ever since the bell went missing - a mystery that has perplexed the town for years. Anna makes a deal with her father: if she can discover why the crabs are missing, he will allow her to return home to California.
Praying for guidance, the answer comes in the form of Christophe, the son of a renowned French explorer whose ship, Calliope, has arrived for emergency repairs. With the help of the local priest, a gonzo flying dentist and the French explorer, Anna stumbles from one clue onto another in her search for the truth. But can she solve the mystery of Bahia del Cangrejo and the missing bell?