In an unprecedented tournament as fierce as the raging sea and the behemoths of its sunless depths, five champion anglers wager a million dollars apiece that one of them is best. Ernest Lichine is a sheltered Northerner with a newly acquired fortune who is plunged into an alien world unrestrained by the conventions of his own. A weekend fisherman, he finds himself locked in no-quarter combat with professional boatmen and anglers of international standing. Dazzling, acidtongued Catherine Nettles triumphs over her male rivals at all their games, but she carries the seeds of her own destruction. Horst Triga is an heir to billions for whom riches mean nothing, and winning - everything. The scorching battle of muscle and machine and obsession surges from the Yucatan Channel to the Great Barrier Reef, with interludes in opulent resorts where decadence and violence are merely expected. The competitors fall victim to hidden terrors and hungers. Most fail. Some die. For one, the tournament becomes an ocean-spanning odyssey of discovery ... and retribution. The survivors persevere, uncertain it is worth the cost. One day, on a howling black sea, they find out.