About the Book Marine biologist Tess Hansen returns to Washingtons isolated northern coast where she struggles to adjust to small-town living while courting an endowment for her orca research center from Brittany James. Book Synopsis Marine biologist Tess Hansen has left her high-tech lab at Evergreen College and returned to Washingtons northern coast to take care of her aging parents. Although her new job studying orcas in the Pacific excites her, she finds life in the small town where she grew up to be stifling and boring. Until she meets Brittany James. Chemist Britt James has made the move from a hectic city to the rural coast as well, but she embraces the isolation. Shes looking for a way to reconnect with the environment and make amends for the damage her chemical company has done, and Tesss center for orca research is a top contender for her endowment. Change has become an unwelcome part of Tesss life and a desperate hope for Britt. Can these two women find a place of refuge with each other?