May, 1968. Expelled from school and mourning the sudden death of her father, Elli flees to the family summerhouse overlooking Pleasant Bay, Cape Cod. There she learns to fish, works a chambermaid, and meets the clan of dropouts who live on Sipson's Island, a mile away across the water. Dodging the Vietnam war draft, they are sheltered there by Martin, a wealthy eccentric art collector and the island's owner. Martin believes his beloved dead wife still roams its shores, and thinks he has discovered a way to bring her back. Meanwhile, Elli gets to know the real owner of Sipson's Island, the last sachem of the native Nausets, who lived there two centuries before. She and Martin each find their gateway to the past through the spontaneous alchemy of abstract painting, which connects them to other, older stories of art, love and family.