After fleeing a disastrous teaching job (and a bad gambling habit) in
Boston, Lindsey starts teaching English in Hime, a small fishing town in
Japan. One morning, while trying to snap the perfect ocean sunrise
photo for her mother, she slips off a rock at the edge of Toyama Bay,
hits her head, and plunges into the seaβand in doing so, sets off an
unexpected chain of events.
When Lindsey comes to in the
hospital, she learns that she owes her life to a young man named
Ichiroβa local fisherman who also happens to be the older brother of one
of her students. She begins to spend time with her lifesaver, and in
the ensuing months, she becomes increasingly enmeshed in her new life:
when she is not busy teaching, she splits her time between an
apprenticeship with the local master sushi chef and going out fishing
with Ichiro. As she and Ichiro grow closer, however, she also learns
that not all is well in Hime, and she is drawn into a war to stop the
town next door from overfishing their shared bay. Soon, she, Ichiro, and
her pastrami-obsessed best friend, Judyβthe person who talked Lindsey
into coming to Japan in the first placeβare spending all their free time
working together to rescue the town. But when their efforts backfire,
Hime gets closer to falling apartβputting Lindsey's friends, her budding
relationship with Ichiro, and her career in jeopardy. To save Hime,
Lindsey realizes, she'll have to become a true American fisherwoman and
fight for her new home with everything she has.