Postcard: Rosehearty

Two hours north of Aberdeen, Rosehearty is one in a cluster of small Scottish fishing communities on the edge of the North Sea. Battered by the dark waters that have caused untold losses of boats and men, the people here have long accepted a cruel bargain: the ocean gives fishermen their livelihood but it also owns a claim — redeemable at any time — on their lives. Forced to be stoic, they came to believe that no man could be blamed for the sea's wrath.

But this is changing. In a town where hearts...