A gothic tale of family, the legend of the selkies - shapeshifting mythological creatures - and a young woman who is offered an impossible choice.

The only daughter in a family of Scottish seal-hunters, Kier Sealgair is becoming a burden. She cannot kill, and the family are facing hard times now that her father is ailing. On the neighbouring cliffs stands Erskine Manor, home to a mysterious and wealthy family. Servants arrive in town to buy supplies, but the family is never seen, and waves of rumour spread in the struggling small-town community.

Then, one day, after a chance encounter, Lady Erskine finds Kier and offers her a bargain that could save Kier's father and change the town's impending fate. But questions remain. Who lives in the five towers of the manor? Is the Lord of the house alive? And are the children of the manor even human, or are the tales of spine-toothed monsters who roam the grounds true?