An extreme landscape in both its beauty and challenges, Alaska is a place where know-how is currency and a novice's mistakes can be fatal. But it is a place for glorious reinvention—a refuge for those desperate to escape . . . and for those looking for something more. Miranda Weiss, a young woman who grew up landlocked in a well-kept East Coast suburb, moved to Homer, Alaska, with her boyfriend, determined to make a place for herself in this unfamiliar country where the years are marked by seasons of fish, and where locals carry around the knowledge of tides, boats, and weather as ballast. In , Weiss introduces readers to the memorable people and peculiar beauty of Alaska's vast landscape, as she takes us along on her remarkable personal journey of adventure, physical challenge, and culture clash.