Matthew has come with his mother to the north Norfolk coast where she has rented a cottage in the grounds of an abandoned old manor-house. A local boy, Roly, becomes his guide through a lonely and mysterious landscape of dunes and creeks and sea. These and the derelict mansion begin to haunt Matthew's imagination and he gradually senses a shadow of fear lurking beneath his deepening friendship with Roly. The truth proves to be stranger than anything...