Kel Boon thinks he has managed to escape his past life as an agent in the secret organisation, the Core, protecting the blissfully unaware Noreelans from the threat of the lizard-like Strangers - creatures from beyond the known world capable of untold destruction. In the sleepy fishing village of Pavmouth Breaks Kel has become the woodcarver, leaving fighting behind and forming a tentative relationship with the trainee witch Namior.

But a storm is brewing. And in the centre of the storm the witches sense something dark. What follows in the wake of the storm threatens the Noreelan's very way of life, forcing them to face up to the fact that life exists beyond the shores of Noreela, and not all of it is friendly. Kel too is forced to accept that he cannot escape his past or his destiny.