In the far north, beneath the ice-blue waves, a great whale swims. This whale is Siku, Ice Whale. He is wary of humans, for he has seen the great harm hunters do. But he seeks a young Eskimo, the one with kind eyes.

On the water, a boy also searches. Years ago, he unwittingly let Yankee whalers slaughter a pod of ice whales. For this act, the young Eskimo received a curse of banishment—along with the charge to protect the great whale Siku as long as he lives. His fate and that of his family are tied to this one whale.

Over the years, much changes. The curse is passed down from generation to generation. New threats abound. But this bond is strong. It can never be broken.

Told in alternating voices, both human and whale, Jean Craighead George's last novel is a far-reaching quest which takes us beneath the waves and onto the forbidding Alaskan tundra. Her voice, lyrical and wondrous when writing about the natural world, comes through unmistakably as she writes about the inter-connectedness of humankind and the animals they depend on.

From the dust jacket