Thorfinn Ragnarson, the son of a crofter who lives on the fictitious island of Norday in the Orkneys, relives the history of the island people in his daydreams. He wakes to the twentieth century and a community unchanged for centuries but, as the boy grows up and falls in love, momentous changes come to the island. During the Second World War, Thorfinn finds himself a prisoner of war and discovers his gifts of writing. Long afterwards, as a successful novelist, he returns to a deserted and battle scarred island where, searching for peace and freedom, he finds something else.