Set in Brooklyn from the Great Depression into the Second World War, this historical novel follows Anna Kerrigan as she searches for the truth behind her father's disappearance and pushes into the male world of naval-yard diving. Organized crime on the waterfront, family silence, and the pull of the sea converge in a story about loneliness and the hunger for freedom in a city at war.

For Anna, descending into the dark sea is also a search for her missing father and for herself.