~Where honest advocacy justifies an investment of the heart~ Marin Evans finagles her way into a rowboat with a temperamental sound-side resident who's about to have his salty heritage crumble beneath him on the Outer Banks. Tyde Fearing lowers his guard to give the insistent land use planner her interview, but doesn't expect to enjoy her company as the threat of condemnation for the historic Fearing cottage makes his future seem bleak. Marin goes into advocacy mode when the historical society and recreation department clash for use of the Fearing land donation. An outbuilding with a shadowy past stands to further condemn the Fearing family-or will the shed become a plank of justification when the truth is revealed? All hope falls to ashes when the Fearing cottage is taken by an act of nature, plunging Tyde into despair. Marin's land use plan is the only life raft that will save him-and she employs a flotilla of creative reinforcements to pull it off at the grand opening of Fearing Landing. Will the shifting sands of the Graveyard of the Atlantic sink its last authentic waterman? Not when he has an advocate determined to cross the waters of the sound with a heart that bridges an impossible task with the surety of love.