A love story between girlie girl Theresa and commercial fisherman Captain Bart, who convinces her to crew on a ninety-two-foot tuna boat plying the North Pacific Ocean. Trading cashmere and high heels for rain gear and rubber boots, she becomes a deckhand, confined for three months at a time, thousands of miles from anywhere. Bart's tight group of fishermen-the Hyenas-become her extended family, but no one explains what appalling weather and hauling thousands of pounds of tuna would do to her hands. Or to her heart. Or to her mind. After nine months on the water, Theresa returns to life on land. But when Bart finds another tuna boat, he heads back out to Mother Ocean. "See you soon," are the last words he says to her. Three days later, Bart dies of a massive heart attack. Grief, financial devastation, and a lawsuit follow, but it is the family of Hyenas who help her pull through.