In a Scottish fishing village squeezed between sea and bluffs, a single mom named Mhairi has accepted an offer from her boyfriend Black to move to the city to live with him: more opportunities for her and for her son Billy. But Billy, probably about 12, objects. He wants to stay, and on the fateful moving day, he rises early and stows away on the small fishing boat of a local curmudgeon everyone calls Zorba, because he's a lot like the Kazantzakis character. Zorba offers Billy some advice, while, back on shore, Black is in a temper. Then Billy falls overboard. Is it good-bye Billy, good-bye village, or good-bye Black? Will Zorba teach Billy to dance?