For centuries, tales have told of merfolk haunting the seas, strange creatures teasing or helping sailors at their whim, occasionally having them for dinner. And not in a cordial sense. Alexis Silver was ahead of her time, a woman too smart to fit into society at the turn of the century. She gave up her dreams of higher education for love, marrying young, but her husband, and the life she wanted, perished in World War I soon after. Heartbroken and restless, she booked passage on a cruise along the West Coast in search of adventure, but adventure found her. The ship capsized, killing everyone on board, except for her. As she drifted far beneath the waves, inexplicably alive, the reason for her survival flashed by in a streak of silver: a Merman. He had passed along the curse-or gift as Alexis sees it. A century later, she breaks up the monotony of immortality in the Pacific Northwest working as a private investigator. The long-dormant maternal instincts of her resident Dark Master kick in when a nice older couple hire her to find their missing son and his family. Her instincts tell her this isn't like her usual jilted-spouse cases. If she doesn't work fast, a little girl is going to die.