Salmah meets an odd sea creature at the lagoon near her home. Mayang is part-woman, part-centipede, and lives in the ocean hunting fish and occasionally badly-behaved humans. The two grow close and embark on a relationship, but Mayang warns Salmah that her life in the human world will pull her away. As predicted, this eventually comes to pass. Years later, the two encounter one another again when Salmah's careless husband loses their daughter, Eunice, on the beach. Mayang rescues Eunice and returns her to Salmah, and later lures Salmah's husband to his death. Years more pass, and a now-grown Eunice goes looking for the sea creature she half-remembers from her childhood. She meets Mayang, they grow close, and Eunice makes the decision her mother could not: she walks away from her human life to join Mayang in the sea.