Tara Marconi has made her way to "The Rock," a remote island in Alaska governed by the seasons and the demands of the world of commercial fishing. She hasn't felt at home in a long while-her mother's death left her unmoored and created a seemingly insurmountable rift between her and her father. But in the majestic, mysterious, and tough boundary-lands of Alaska she begins to work her way up the fishing ladder from hatchery assistant all the way to King crabber. Tara learned discipline from years as a young boxer in Philly, but here she learns anew what it means to work, to connect, and-in buying and fixing up an old tugboat-how to make a home she knows is her own.