Set on the shores of San Francisco Bay in 1866, this adventure tale tells the story of twelve year old Emma Green who finds her world turned upside down when her father takes an assignment as a lighthouse keeper at Point Bonita, a remote rock on the California coast. At first isolated, Emma manages to make friends with the son of a powerful rancher and with the granddaughter of a Native American Indian. But when a mysterious shipwreck survivor washes into their cove - a feverish boy ridiculously claiming to be a pirate, secrets that have lain quiet across generations are suddenly threatened, and in order to survive the opening rifts, the four friends must forge a fellowship in spite of growing mistrusts.