Michael Cavanagh spent half his childhood fatherless and all of it with a mother who was a whore. No wonder insecurity is one of his problems, Or that fear of sex is another. At 35 he has one failed marriage and a teenage daughter he hasn't seen since she was 4 years old.

He has a cabinetmaking business in Suffolk village, and when Meredith Lomond's bicycle punctures outside his workshop, it seems an unlikely catalyst for a metamorphosis in Michael's life. Yet soon afterwards, Michael finds himself rushing across Brittany to rescue Meredith's daughter, Daisy, from abusive husband, Jean-Paul. He smuggles Daisy and her 4 year-old son to England aboard a small yacht.

Storms and tidal races provide a lively, even life-threatening, passage but when they reach England, the maritime elements seem mild in comparison to what awaits them on land.

There is a secret between Daisy and her mother from which Michael is excluded. He finds that Jean-Paul has something at stake, too, that makes him infinitely more dangerous than a mere cuckolded husband.

Learning to father Daisy's son makes Michael brood about his own estranged child, and after an unexpected encounter he is forced to confront his own childhood too.

Michael must unravel his past and discover his inner strength to save the people he cares about. The consequences test his mental, moral and physical forces to their limits.