It's the start of the Pacific salmon fishing season, and Tod and Buz, in Astoria, Oregon, will be working as the sole crew aboard the Doreen, the trawler owned by widowed Anna Gustafson. They notice another fisher named Karno Starling who has obvious anger issues and who Anna tells them to avoid at all cost. They are unable to do so, his current anger directed specifically at Tod, seeming to do with Tod spending time with Anna's adult daughter, Toika Gustafson. Tod can sense that Karno's anger is strong enough for him to want to kill, or in turn be killed. In dealing with the issue, Tod has to understand Karno's hold over Toika, as well as what is fueling his anger, before one kills the other, or until the next "Tod" comes onto the scene.
—Huggo