Forty-two-year-old Jessie is summoned home to Egret Island off the coast of South Carolina after her obsessively devout mother inexplicably cuts off her own finger, and finds herself oddly exhilarated to be free of her husband, and wildly attracted to Brother Thomas, a monk who has yet to take his final vows.

The Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles...