The story of a voyage across and around the English Channel. Stirred by the news of the decommissioning of Britain's last lighthouse keeper, Sebastian Smith quit his press agency desk-job in the spring of 1999 to explore the vanishing way of life of those who live on or by the Channel. Gripped by the stories he hears and the people he encounters, he finds himself seduced by the lure of the sea and determines to make his own journey across the Channel, teaching himself how to pilot and sail in a tiny sea-going dinghy.