Summer has a magic all its own.

When Portia sets out for a visit with her cousin Julian, she expects fun and adventure of the usual kind. But this summer is different. On their first day exploring, Portia and Julian discover an enormous boulder with a mysterious message, a swam choked with weeds and quicksand, and on the far side of the swamp... a ghost town. Once, the swamp was a splendid lake, and the fallen houses were a resort community. Although the lake is long gone and the resort faded away, the houses still hold a secret: two people who have never gone-away lake... and who can tell the story of what happened there.