Three months after a vacation in Costa Rica ends in tragedy, John Lane sets out with friends from his own backyard in upcountry South Carolina to calm his nerves and to paddle to the sea. Along the way he encounters a motley cast of characters - perplexed fishermen, catfish cleaners, river rats, and a trio of drug-addled drifters on a lonely boat dock a day's paddle from the sea. Through it all, paddle stroke by paddle stroke, Lane is reminded why life and rivers have always been wedded together.