Catherine comes home to Knysna from boarding school for the summer, but although she loves the lagoon and hills around the Heads, she is very lonely. Until she meets Frans - a strange young man who accepts her friendship without seeming to give anything in return. Catherine comes home to Knysna from boarding school for the summer, but although she loves the lagoon and hills around the Heads, she is very lonely. Until she meets Frans - a strange young man who accepts her friendship without seeming to give anything in return. It is only when Frans turns to her for help that she realises how his sadness is connected to the past of her own family.