John Thompson thinks he's going to have an easy summer. Instead he runs into an archeological discovery that will shake the field, his field, to its core. Fifty years old, overweight, married to someone who has aided and abetted his career while never forcing him to deal with his own deep-seated insecurities, John flees to the most extreme place he knows: the Makah Indian community at Neah Bay, Washington. Exposed to the endless rain and relentless sea of the Olympic Peninsula, John is confronted with a people desperate to rejuvenate their ancient whaling tradition, and the ghost of an old love affair John has tried to bury for years. In surefooted, lyrical prose, Niles explores what it means to excavate a life out of the wreckage of the past, and the ramifications of keeping secrets for far too long. Fans of Kingsolver, Haruf, Larry Watson and even James Lee Burke will find her fast-paced dialogue, intense understanding of the natural world, and devout compassion for humanity's darker side both familiar and wrought in shining new terms.