The Mourning of Mary Turner is a gothic novel set in the nineteenth century that takes place in three parts: the first mainly on the open sea and the latter two in the house on the cliffs in fictional Faulkner, Rhode Island. The novel tells the tale of the Turners and how a major event in the life of a family member affects everyone in the family.

Benjamin Turner is man who has everything: a loving wife, a child on the way, and a prospect of a bright future as the future Captain of his father's ship, The Odessa. When his father asks Benjamin to go on a sea voyage that will secure the company's future, Benjamin does not hesitate, even though it will mean missing out on the birth of his child. What happens on that voyage changes him and Benjamin is indeed lucky to even survive such a terrible set of circumstances.

While Benjamin is gone, his wife, Anne, is left to deal with an empty house, the town gossip, and becoming a mother for the first time. When her husband returns, Anne expects the man who left, but that man has been replaced with a somber, brooding figure that Anne does not know and she soon grows afraid of him to the point that the three members of the household spend their days together in near silence.

The Turners become the talk of the town, as Anne and Mary never leave the house and whispers of how Benjamin survived his ordeal at sea begin to grow. When young Mary starts to wonder about the outside world she is missing, Benjamin buys her something to distract her: canvas, paint, and some brushes. The young lady becomes obsessed, painting everything within the household that she can find.

As the years pass and the family's presence in the town becomes more and more talked about, the Turners descend into their own brand of madness. Anne sits in a chair staring out the window day after day, wondering what happened to her life and Benjamin stalks through the house and the streets of Faulkner like a ghost; in the meantime, Mary has become quite the artist. Her world of paint and canvas is no longer enough however, and she again yearns to go outside and when she does so, it has dire consequences for everyone.