Jim Evans, an orphan in his teens, is discharged from an orphanage in Aberdeen, Scotland. The years of dread he experienced there will pale against what he is about to encounter at his new work destination; lurking dark secrets at a solitary and secluded island where madness and lucidness are indistinguishable. A place where "Hope" floats and "Cheers" hang. The place of an old hermit called Lewis Shaw, the Principal Lighthouse Keeper at the island of Muckle Skerry.