When a storm washes a canoe bearing an infant boy ashore upon a small South Pacific island, he is at first well-received as a gift from the heavens, even to the point of the tribal chief adopting him as a successor.

A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.

Set against the beauty of Far North Queensland, Ocean Girl is the story of Neri, a mysterious young girl from the ocean, who is discovered by the young inhabitants of an underwater research colony.