The narrative centers on a songsmith living in a forested Norumbega settlement, unfolding through sung tales and episodic memory of hunts, sea voyages, and a fraught romance. The protagonist’s violent past, forced departures, and a storm-driven escape lead to exile, a coastal refuge with its own tomb and tower, and the social consequences of honor and kinship. Lyric interpolations and saga-like passages frame reflections on fate, loss, and the duties of storytelling, examining how communal law and private feeling shape identity and the claim of song to preserve or condemn the past.