Fifteen years ago the sea disappeared from Windholm’s shore. The tide simply retreated and has remained out ever since. There were no recognisable causes, it just happened. From that day this anomaly has lain like a curse on the area, throwing up questions and causing disquiet. Two young physicists, Jana and Micha, set out to get to the bottom of this mysterious phenomenon. They arrive in Windholm and fall under the spell of the isolated village community where there are no children. For years the people here have been trying to come to terms with the fact that, on the day the tide went out, their children also disappeared. They searched high and low for them until eventually they were declared drowned. Gradually, Jana and Micha begin to suspect that it is no coincidence that they of all people have ended up in Windholm. Did they even have a choice? Or was it predestined? And precisely what are they looking for? Little by little the pair not only begin to unravel a great secret, they are also obliged to discover how they themselves are entangled in Windholm’s history.