It is 1897. 18-year-old Daniel Robertshaw has always been an outsider. Naive and childlike, he is shunned by his neighbours in the Yorkshire fishing port of Staithes. When Daniel discovers the dead body of a young girl washed up on the rocks, he is immediately assumed guilty of killing her. As the city of York prepares for a murder trial, more questions arise. Who is the young girl? Her body has not been claimed. Will Daniel be able to prove his innocence? Fossil-collecting barrister, James Cairn, knows Daniel and is willing to represent him in court. He faces a struggle to prove Daniel's innocence, but first he must find the real killer.