Fourteen year old Alyssa has been living with her Grandmother Lucy since the death of her mother a year ago. It's been a tough year for both of them and Lucy decides it's time for Alyssa to go to the Bahamas to live with Hawk, dedicated dolphin researcher and the father she never knew she had. Alyssa's arrival on the island comes at a decisively inconvenient time for Hawk, who is busy fighting greedy politicians and "experts" who are determined to turn his research center into a tacky tourist attraction. It's a prickly relationship between Hawk and Alyssa, but Tamika, Hawks girlfriend, and Daniel, Tamika's father, smooth the way. Alyssa soon adjusts to island life and discovers the gift she shares with her father for communicating with dolphins, a skill which leads her into a powerful relationship with a wild dolphin which her father, for legitimate scientific reasons, cannot condone. But when the powers-that-be threaten to close down her father's research station, it is Alyssa and her wild friend who hold the key, and have the power to bring all parties together.