August Salt boards the ferry to Saoirse Island, returning after years away to bury his mother's ashes.

The trees on Saoirse Island change color overnight and a starling dies outside Emery's window just before the ferry arrives.

The town marshal, Jakob Blackwood, drives August to his abandoned childhood home and coldly tells him to leave as soon as possible.

Emery learns while visiting her father's pub that August has returned to Saoirse Island for the first time since the fire.

The island's town council meets to address August's presence, revealing how bitterly the community blames him for Lily's unsolved death.

Emery finds a cache of letters in her attic and discovers that August changed his surname after leaving the island.

Emery unearths a hidden deed to the Salt orchard and realizes someone forged August's signature to transfer ownership to the town.

August visits Emery at her tearoom, and the two former lovers confront each other face to face for the first time.

Someone sets August's truck on fire outside Emery's house, and August suspects the town council is responsible for the attack.

August buries his mother Eloise's ashes at the island cemetery with Emery standing quietly beside him.

Dutch confesses to Emery that he lied about August's alibi on the night of the fire, leaving August's whereabouts unaccounted for.

August confesses to Emery that he set the orchard fire himself, driven to desperation by his grandfather's threats and abuse.

August is knocked unconscious from behind as he locks his door and wakes up bound to a chair.

Emery and Noah confront the armed council holding August, and Emery offers the original will as leverage to secure their freedom.

Living on the mainland, Emery and August are startled when one of their daughters draws a picture she identifies as Saoirse Island.

August Salt's return to Saoirse Island to bury his mother's ashes immediately reawakens the community's long-held belief that he murdered teenager Lily Morgan. His former love, Emery Blackwood, is dragged back into their shared history when she uncovers a forged deed proving his family orchard was stolen during his absence. As the two former lovers reunite and begin digging for the truth, a violent warning — the burning of August's truck — makes clear that powerful forces want him gone. The island's ruling council, driven by decades of festering grudges over land and legacy, eventually kidnaps August and plans to kill him quietly. Emery and her father intervene in a tense confrontation, and Emery uses proof of the orchard's rightful ownership as leverage to buy their freedom. They escape the island together, leaving behind the only life either has ever known.

The core mystery and romance driving August and Emery's story.

A curious tourist asks Emery about the old fire and the girl who died, but Emery refuses to discuss her past.

Jakob interrogates young Emery about Lily's movements on the night of the fire, focusing his suspicion squarely on August.

Dutch drives to the Salt orchard he now manages and meets Leoda, who tries to stoke his anger against August.

August visits the island cemetery, then meets his family's lawyer Bernard at his childhood home, who appears visibly afraid to be near him.

Emery spends the night at her grandmother Albertine's house, sleeping in her childhood bed after August's return shakes her.

Emery helps Leoda unpack herbs and reflects on Lily's strange death — seawater filled her lungs though her clothes were completely dry.

Noah visits August at his childhood home and welcomes him warmly before asking him to stay away from Emery.

Emery confronts Noah about hiding August's location for years and tells him she can no longer trust him.

Jakob tells Emery that Lily was pregnant when she died and that Dutch's statement was the only alibi August ever had.

August travels to the mainland to request a property record copy and accidentally fills out the form with his real surname.

August confronts Jakob at the pub and presents the door handle from his burned truck as evidence of deliberate arson.

Nixie confronts Leoda about the fire that destroyed August's truck, but Leoda refuses to deny her involvement.

Emery breaks into Dutch's house to search for the missing letter and is caught when Dutch returns unexpectedly.

Leoda meets with Jakob and Dutch, and Dutch confesses to the group that he fabricated August's alibi on the night of the fire.

August regains consciousness to find himself bound to a chair with Jakob standing guard as Leoda and the council arrive.

While August and Emery drive the central story, Saoirse Island is held together by a dense web of secondary relationships whose secrets and loyalties shape every major event. Dutch's quiet occupation of August's orchard and Jakob's conflicted policing of the community reveal how thoroughly August's departure reshaped the island's social order. Figures like Leoda and Noah appear helpful at first but gradually expose calculating agendas tied to land, loyalty, and old violence. The peculiar details surrounding Lily's death — seawater in her lungs despite her dry clothing — accumulate into a mystery that hints at forces beyond the natural world. As false alibis, suppressed evidence, and a history of orchestrated disappearances surface, the community's capacity for both solidarity and ruthless self-protection becomes unmistakable. These events reveal a closed society that enforces its own justice and will quietly destroy anyone who threatens the order it has built.

The web of relationships and community pressures beneath the surface.

During a beach gathering, August pulls Emery aside and asks her to leave Saoirse Island with him, and she agrees.

Young Emery and Lily study spell craft with Albertine, and Lily sneaks an unsanctioned look deeper into the family spell book.

Emery reads a letter from August's mother Hannah describing August's actions on the night of the fire as unforgivable.

August and Dutch sit on a lighthouse balcony together, and August offers Dutch a job at the Salt family orchard.

Emery and August wade into the sea under a full moon as teenagers and make a magical binding vow to love each other forever.

Emery wakes from a recurring nightmare of drowning herself and decides she must sever the magical bond between her and August.

Albertine begins a cord-cutting spell to separate Emery and August's bond, but Emery cannot bring herself to cut the final cord.

August's grandfather Henry discovers his escape plan and threatens to destroy his mother's livelihood, and a desperate August sets the orchard ablaze.

Emery brings August to the pub and reveals the deed she has been hiding, showing him proof that his signature was forged.

Emery sneaks into Jakob's office and steals Lily's murder file, discovering it contains handwritten notes and photographs focused on herself.

Emery confronts Jakob about the murder file and learns the missing photograph showed her own necklace, found in Lily's possession.

Emery tells Lily that she and August are leaving the island together the next day, and Lily storms away in silent fury.

Emery visits Albertine and deduces that Lily broke into the house, stole the spell book, and used Emery's necklace to cast a drowning curse.

The island itself narrates how Lily's attempt to curse Emery to drown turned back on Lily, filling her lungs with seawater in the woods.

Leoda reveals to the council that she orchestrated August's father's disappearance years ago and convinces the others to murder August.

Beneath the present-day mystery lies a network of youthful promises, magical bonds, and obsessive loves that set every catastrophe in motion. The story traces how August and Emery's teenage plan to flee the island together, sealed with a binding vow under the full moon, created a connection that neither was ever fully able to escape. Lily's desperate obsession with August led her to dark magic she was not equipped to wield, and her attempt to curse Emery to drown ultimately became the instrument of her own death. The island itself eventually speaks, narrating Lily's tragic final act and revealing the magical truth that has haunted the community for over a decade. Revelations about forged documents, a stolen heirloom necklace, and a decades-long campaign of violence against the Salt family show how deep the corruption truly runs. These turning points reframe every earlier event and reveal that the island's magic, though indifferent to morality, ultimately punishes those who use it to harm the innocent.