Seventeen-year-old Fable is a dredger-a freediver who excavates rare gemstones from the coral reefs that fill The Narrows. For the last four years; she's been trying to get off the island of Jeval; find the father who abandoned her there; and claim her mother's place on his trading crew. But when she finally makes it off the island; she discovers it may have been the safest place for her.