In the Scottish fishing village of Mareth, everyone knows everything about each other - and what they don't know they assume. The villagers live against a constantly changing backdrop of elaborate scheming and sexual innuendo. At the hub of this world is the Ocean Cafe, run by tousle-haired, forty-something Magda, who makes grown mean eat their greens, won't serve customers she doesn't like, and loves her children and their father with a passion. Her comments might cause laughter or fury - but Magda's never boring. When Jessie Tate rents the flat above the cafe in an escape from her city life, her dream of peace and solitude is shattered by the rock 'n' roll music thudding through her floor. But perhaps a dose of life in an intimate, utterly self-absorbed community is just what Jessie needs to escape from her ghosts ...