Elsa Roth and her best friend, Olivia, are accompanying Elsa's mother on an expedition to study the diet of orcas in the San Juan Islands in the Pacific Northwest, where they are soon caught up in the drama surrounding August, a young orca calf, who has gotten separated from his pod--the marine mammal sanctuary wants to rescue and rehabilitate him for a quick return to his own pod when they can be found, but the local Oceanarium wants to keep him for display.