All Elle wants is a little land to call her own. And she has earned it, finding a measure of peace on a lonely isle near the bottom of the Florida Keys. But others have their own designs, especially Billy, her deadbeat, absent husband who could show up any time to claim her or maliciously destroy what he cannot have.
In 1935, as Labor Day approaches, a storm is brewing that will alter Elle's life and the landscape of the Florida Keys forever. How far will Elle go to protect the little that she has? And if she does the unimaginable, can she keep her freedom?
In the great depression of the 1930's, No Name Key is still unconnected to the mainland; wild weather, desperate characters and treacherous swamp, a woman has got to use all her strength just to survive.
Set against the backdrop of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in the Florida Keys, a desperate Elle puts Billy on the last ferry out, on the morning of the storm.
Or did she?
Mrs. Rowlands, Billy's wealthy paramour believes that Billy may have suffered an even worse fate. But just what did she see, and what will she find out?
And who else remained with Elle on that small island, shut in while the hurricane raged?