For Ray and Sandra, it's their first family holiday in Greece, on the mysterious island of Vasilema. The skies are cloudier than anywhere else and the visitors are puzzled by local eccentricities: the lack of mirrors, the outsize beach umbrellas, and the odd nocturnal rituals. Why do some islanders seem to follow the family wherever they go? Why do the visitors have strangely similar dreams? And has Sandra been granted a wish she didn't know she'd made? Their tours take them around the island to a holiday resort that is unnaturally deserted during the day and to a cave where more than one gruesome discovery lies in wait. Before their holiday is over, some of the family may learn too much about the secret that keeps the island alive.