Tova Sullivan is seventy and her life is full of pain and loneliness. Her husband is dead, and her only son Eric went missing thirty years ago. She gets a job as a janitor at the oceanarium in the town of Sauvage Bay. One night, Tova rescues Marcellus the octopus, who, being outside the aquarium, got tangled in a wire and almost died. At first glance, Marcellus seems to be just an ocean dweller, and the woman does not even realize that he will help her uncover the mystery of the mysterious night when Eric disappeared. Shelby Van Pelt's charming, engaging, kind and witty debut novel is a story of friendship and the trials of fate. A reminder that sometimes a close look at the past can help open the door to a future that seemed impossible.