Chrissy arrives at a town after a couple hour long train ride. The town is called Vaiduoklis and it is a small town next to a giant reservoir. Chrissy rents a room from a lady named Asta. She made sure the room was near the water so that she could swim in it. Asta is a grumpy old lady that lives near a reservoir that has a sunken city in it. The house is in a mudy gloomy area.
The books story is told over emails between Chrissy and her friend whos name we do not know. In the first email that she sends to her friend she talks about the house, water, and the home owner. She said that the Reservoir isnt the prettiest. She talks about how nice the house looks. She talks about Asta and how she is grumpy and mean. Chrissy asked a question about swimming in the reservoir and Mrs. Asta says sharply that no one swims there.
Chrissy tries to sneak out in the morning to go swimming. Mrs. Asta catches her before she leaves and has her stay for breakfast. Mrs. Asta keeps trying to make sure that Chrissy isnt gong to swim. Chrissy lies and tells her that she is not going to swim even though she is going to right after breakfast. Chrissy asks why not to swim in the lake and all Asta says is its not the lake its what lies beneath it.
Chrissy doesn't listen to Mrs. Asta and goes into the water because she is a wilder swimmer and she came to this town to swim in this lake. She struggles to get into the water because it is low tide and all of the ledges are slippery but she finds a branch that helps her down. In the water it is murky, dark and looks very gloomy. She doesn't feel like she normally does when swimming, she feels empty in this water rather than feeling excited.
Chrissy decides to go back to the water the next day. This time she decides to look for the city thats under the water. After swimming deep into the water she finds the top of a church that was apart of the sunken town. While she is look at the church a dead body floats up chimney of the church to her. She frantically swims away but it grabs her and pulls her down. With her almost running out of breath she barley escape and goes back to the house.
The story ends from one last email that is sent to Chrissy's friend. The email is from the government rather than Chrissy this time. The email is about Chrissy and Asta. The email states that Asta was found drowned in a bathtub and Chrissy was found in the water. It also states that neither were found with any signs of struggle therefor the explination for their deats was suicide for Asta and that Chrissy fell into the water and drowned. The end.