Grad student Liza has long been plagued by vivid dreams of whaling despite never having seen the sea. Offered the opportunity to spend a summer on Nantucket, the one-time heart of New England's whaling trade, Liza accepts, eager to see how well her dreams mesh with historical reality.

The answer is: all too well. Liza's dreams become highly sexual; her visions of ship's captain Obadiah Young grow increasingly intense. At times the past and present mix before her eyes.

Whaling museum curator Adam is skeptical about Liza's claims of a past life - but drawn to her passionate desire to know the truth about herself and about Obadiah, who was accused of murdering his beautiful, younger wife. Liza's attraction to Adam is intense - but so is her reaction to Lucian, whose cool silver eyes seem to glow with heat whenever they rest on Liza...

In a single summer, Liza must unravel the riddle of her dreams, reunite lovers separated by death, solve a hundred-year-old murder...and figure out her heart's desire.