Haley feels hemmed in by her life in general, but she is especially furious at her parents and their restrictions. When she finds a string of pearls on the beach one night, an amazing string of pearls that have the power to transform her into a mermaid, she doesn't hesitate to swim off into the ocean and leave all her concerns behind. But she didn't mean to be gone for an entire year. When she finally returns, her parents are shocked, because they had given her up as dead, and they can't understand where she has been for so long. She also finds that all of the plans she had for her future are in tatters. Haley does her best to pull her life together again, but she can't shake her deep-seated yearning to return to the sea.