A southern occupational therapist works with a difficult patient who disappears. She grapples with ties of home versus the draw of adventure and decides it is time to leave her hometown job and take a position in southern Alaska. Getting there is an adventure she shares with her mother and her cat. Traveling with a cat is always a challenge. The lifestyle in Ketchikan differs dramatically from small town South. The weather, the water travel, the small aircraft travel and Revillagigedo Island all provide new challenges. She meets an interesting man and supportive colleagues. The difficult patient reappears and complicates her life. She outwits him when he threatens her very existence. It turns out to have been a good job move and cultural adjustment.