Crime and adventure on the high seas

Jared Kane is a West Coast commercial fisherman whose life has been plagued by bad luck and blackout drinking. When he inherits Arrow, an old 46-foot wooden sailboat, he sees a chance for redemption. With his friend from prison, Danny MacLean, Jared plans an offshore voyage, sailing from Vancouver down the Pacific Coast to California and out into the South Pacific.

But that bad luck rears its ugly head: Danny is attacked and left for dead, and when the unknown assailants attempt to finish the job, Jared is forced to flee aboard Arrow with Danny lying helpless in his berth, under the erratic care of his grandfather, a Haida elder who won't speak English. On the search for safe haven with the would-be killers hot on their tail, Jared finds himself with no good choices but to run south -- ill-prepared, poorly provisioned, and crewed by a silent old man and an injured friend strapped into his bunk.