Live action series for preschool children based around the small island community of Balamory in Scotland. Miss Hoolie is taking the nursery children to the beach to collect shells, but PC Plum warns them that the tide might be in. He goes to Pocket & Sweet's shop to buy a tide timetable, so they know when the tide is out. The only problem is, the children can't tell the time yet, so how will everyone know when to leave the beach?