When Masterfisher Alemi took young Readis out to catch redfins for the evening feast, neither of them realised it heralded a new chapter in the history of Pern. For when a sudden black squall blew up, their mast splintered and broke and their boat capsized. It was the shipfish who saved them, swooping up from the deep, holding them firm above the water, guiding them back to land, and above all speaking to them. Alemi, called to the all-encompassing power of AIVAS, learned that the shipfish were dolphins - brought to Pern with the early colonists to help and guide man through the oceans of the new planet. Now all the old Dolphin law had to be rediscovered. Readis, fascinated by the many gifts of the dolphins - gifts unshared by any other creature on Pern - longed to work with them. Helped by T'lion, the young dragonrider with his bronze Gadareth (who establishes his own particular friendship with the dolphins), Readis, fighting against vehement parental opposition, set out to become Pern’s first Dolphineer.