At the age of eighteen Aliana Dowlan eloped with her Creole boyfriend to his home island of Caya off the coast of Central American in the Gulf of Mexico. They lived an idyllic life of sensuous ease as if all that was necessary to life was their love for one another. Then tragedy struck in a manner that seemed almost to be predestined. In the twenty years in which she lived on Caya Aliana's life revolved around her children and her morning ritual of swimming in the tide that gently caressed their island home.
And then the old Castle on the north bluff of the island was turned into a luxury resort. And the tourists came, bringing with them the seeds of brand new and unforeseen risks and delights, all of which Aliana would be forced to come to very surprising and personal terms.