Like his father and grandfather before him, 14-year-old Tomas Torres dreams of catching a great shark in the Sea of Cortez – and he will catch it, although there are other things he should be thinking about. With an education, her could someday become a marine biologist. Tomas’s family want him to stay in school. But Tomas knows he will be more help to them if he leaves school now to become a fisherman. Should he drop out?

The choice is Tomas alone – a difficult one for a boy just becoming a man. It is only underwater, in a confrontation with the fisherman’s greatest prize and worst enemy, that Tomas finds the strength to make his decision.