New Year's Day, 1888: It is the first day of Marantha Waters' new life on San Miguel. She has come with her husband, a Civil War veteran who has taken over the operation of the sheep ranch on the island. But this promised paradise proves to be a damp, wind-ravaged wasteland. As her husband grows increasingly distant from her and their adopted daughter Edith, Marantha's blighted lungs grow weaker.
Mitch is a 25-year-old with commitment issues. Leonard is a five-year-old kid with asthma and vision problems, who captivates everyone he meets. Pearl is Leonard's teenage mother, who's trying to hide a violent secret from her past. Life has given Pearl every reason to mistrust people, but circumstances force...