As a 17 year old boy John-Cody Gibbs runs away because he does not want to enrol for military service and be sent off to Vietnam. He found work as a barman and musician, but was picked up by the FBI and sent to army camp. He goes back to his old work to get his stuff, but stays to make music. He stays too long and is once again picked up by the FBI. On their way to Lewiston there is bad weather and the cars skids, and fell down into a tree. When John-Cody wakes up the FBI men are still unconscious and he decides to run away, after telling the sheriff that some men need help. He gets a
job in a fishing
boat.
About 25 years later Libby Bass flies with her daughter, Bree, to New Zealand, where she got a better job offer. At first Bree is angry with her mother for taking her away from her friends, but once in New Zealand she is quite happy there. They rent a house from John-Cody, whose wife, Mahina, had died about a year ago. After some time he becomes like a father for Bree and
love flourished between him and Libby.
Ned Pole wants to build floating hotels and it is Libby’s job to prove that that specific place is also the living area of a group of dolphins. Ned has much to lose in this deal and will do anything to make it go through. He hires a private detective to check John-Cody’s past, who finds out that John-Cody is wanted in America and is staying illegally in New Zealand. After a couple of days John-Cody gets a letter from immigration services and he is notified that he has to leave New Zealand within 42 days. He tells no one about this.
Some time after he goes to the ocean with Libby and some other friends, Tom and Jonah, and they see a lot of whales, among which also a pregnant one. As John-Cody does not want to leave the country he considers suicide. One morning he dives down with only 20 minutes air, he dives as deep as he can so that he will not have enough air to get back up. Then Moby Dick, a big white whale, comes to swim next to him and he can see right into the eye of the whale. Suddenly the eye changes into the eye of Mahina and looks right at him. John-Cody takes this as a sign and swims back up.
In the meantime Libby wakes up and finds a brown envelope. As she is curious she looks at the letter, which is actually the letter from the immigration services. Libby is shocked but now also understands why John-Cody is acting so strange. When she asks him about it, he tells her the whole truth.
One night on the boat they both woke up and went up to the deck. There they make love and afterwards go back down. Tom and Jonah are also sleeping down in the boat. The next morning on their way to home they get an emergency signal from another boat, the Moeraki. They try to help, but there is a strong storm wind and they have to get back themselves in order to save their own boat. The storm becomes so strong that Tom is dumped into the sea by the high waves. They keep looking for him for hours, but can not find him.
Once home everybody feels broken, of tiredness, pain and sorrow. There are only a few days left before John-Cody has to leave. He stays until after the funeral of Tom and than takes the plan to the United States. He is picked up by 2 FBI men who take him to a police station. There he finds the FBI men who arrested him the night of the accident. They are thankful that he had warned the sheriff that night, otherwise they would have died. John-Cody does not have to go to jail and does not have a police-record, but he can not go back to New Zealand. In the meantime Libby gets offered a permanent job, and she can get a residence permit to stay in New Zealand. If she gets it, her future husband will also get one, so she goes to the United States to look for John-Cody.
John-Cody is surprised and happy to see her. She tells him about her job and how her husband can also get one.