Em Rogers life changes forever when she gets her first after-school detention. If she'd known Dad would die in a traumatic accident on the way to pick her up, and Mum would suffer a nervous breakdown, she never would have talked in class that day. Was it all her fault? After losing friends, confidence, and hope, Em moves north to Matapouri to live with Nan and finds a future with the help of new friends, a mermaid, and a magic rock.