The narrative (told in second person, present tense) begins in a beach cottage on remote Hatteras Island, North Carolina, in the midst of a long-standing marital dispute between Peter and Brenda Hudson. Brenda desperately wants to save their children (and herself) from the questionable values of life in suburban Virginia by moving the family to the simpler existence they have found while vacationing on Hatteras. Peter is simply happy where they are...