When the body of Alison Goss washes up on Menhaden Island, in the Gulf of Maine, the working-class fishing community of hard-hewn ways and salty perspectives is faced with handling the future of her unusual son, Faron. They soon discover how different he is, in strange but endearing ways, including his fascination with moths and his stunning artistic talent. Bound together by weather and sea, Menhaden neighbors with good hearts and blunt opinions overlook Faron's peculiarities. But their nurturing embrace cannot completely erase his troubled past, which eventually morphs into a life-changing event and forces him to confront lingering memories. Faron faces that which haunts him, works as a sternman on a lobster boat, and paints in his studio. When he meets a bird-watching woman who has returned to Menhaden to live in her grandparent's house, his life takes another unexpected turn.