The discovery of a socialite's body in a fisherman's net disrupts the insular, tradition-bound community of post-WWII Amagansett. Conrad Labarde, a Basque immigrant and veteran, finds his quiet life as a fisherman upended when he and his partner pull a corpse from the Atlantic. As deputy police chief Tom Hollis arrives from New York to investigate, he clashes with the town's entrenched social hierarchies and hidden histories. Labarde, driven by his own internal code and suspicions, navigates the tension between the local fishing families and the encroaching influence of wealthy outsiders. The narrative unfolds through a measured, atmospheric lens that emphasizes the physical isolation of the Long Island coast.

This novel is characterized by its deliberate pacing and strong sense of place, which anchors the mystery in the specific cultural landscape of post-war Long Island. The narrative structure suggests a focus on the psychological motivations of the townspeople rather than mere procedural mechanics. Readers likely encounter a story that prioritizes the slow unraveling of community secrets over high-octane action sequences. The prose style appears to lean into the melancholic and evocative, reflecting the inevitable decline of the traditional fishing way of life. By grounding the crime in the history of the region, the work invites a deeper examination of how external pressures alter the fabric of small, isolated societies.