When Ernie Nesbitt witnesses the death of one of his fellow fishermen in the jaws of a shark, his world is forever changed. For years his rotten teeth and quiet manner have made him an outcast in the Maine fishing port of Hagg's Harbor. His only friends are the tiny figures that bubble inside his aquarium- Captain Bones and Mermaid Mary.

Now, hooked on painkillers and in debt to the drug dealers providing them, Ernie is seeing the world in a new light. His friends in the fish tank are talking to him- and they have ideas how he can fix his teeth. After all, sharks never lose their teeth. Their teeth are always bright, new, and very, very sharp.

As bodies begin to was ashore along the local coastline, it soon becomes apparent that something even more deadly than a shark is lurking around Hagg's Harbor. A twisted killer haunts its dockyards and backwaters, searching for his next victim.