Life had never been easy for Michael. Born into a world he couldn't relate to and in a family he never felt he belonged to, burdened with secret abilities to feel other people's emotions and know when they only had three weeks left to live and he had no one to explain any of it to him. Michael had always felt totally alone. Going back to Mt. Haywood wasn't a journey he wanted to take, but what was he going to do, break the promise he made to his wife on her deathbed? She had the belief that going back to face his past would finally free him of the trauma and rage he had suppressed all these years, and maybe even lead him to discover why he had these special abilities and how he could possibly use them to help people. He didn't have the same belief and what Kathleen called special abilities, he called being cursed and they had only brought him torment and anguish. But a promise is a promise, and if nothing else at least he would be fulfilling her dying wish. The Ferryman is the story of Michael Slade's journey to face his past, of trying to make peace with a traumatic childhood in a town he only ever felt ostracised and despised in, and hopefully, finally, accept who and what he is. He couldn't change the past but maybe Kathleen was right, maybe he could change how he felt about it.