Luna, a young killer whale, is lost, abandoned by her family in the waters of Nootka Sound. Alone and desperate for connection, she swims farther and farther from the sea, turning instead toward the only form of companionship she can find: the people living and working by the docks at Gold River, where her search for friendship sparks a political war in the small seaside town. For two brothers of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, the arrival of Luna is seen as a miracle; for an ambitious politician, a problem; and for a drifting journalist, the story of a lifetime.

Suggested by true events as collected in The Lost Whale by Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm.