Thirty-eight-year-old John Carlyle is in trouble. His French wife, Nicole, has left him, taking their 8-year-old son with her. His business is floundering, he's on the edge of bankruptcy, alcohol is becoming a problem, and he's hearing poetic voices in his mind urging him to return to his birthplace, the remote and mysterious island of Inis Mór, Galway Bay, Ireland.

Initially, he ignores these strange urges, but when he receives a letter from his grandmother on Inis Mor, saying that she is dying and wishes to speak with him, he relents and books a ticket home. On arrival he finds that she has already died, leaving him a centuries-old family cottage and a dilapidated old sailing boat (Erin) built by his late grandfather. At first, this appears to be a windfall, but he soon discovers there are conditions to the will.

A mysterious old sailor appears and offers to help rebuild the boat and, as they work together, the old man tells John stories. Stories of Finbar O'Malley, a sea captain who, through pride and bloody-mindedness, lost his only son whilst rounding Cape Horn. Stories of the Selkies, (the seal people) and stories of John's own long-dead father, Con Rhua O'Rourke, who was, it turns out, a well-known Seanchaí, a traditional Irish storyteller.

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