One harpooner and one boy must face the rigours of life on a whaling vessel, hunting and killing the largest thing that has ever lived. As the boy's respect for both the whaler and the whales themselves grows, he becomes tormented by visions and memories he doesn't understand. It's a life of blood and fire, sailing endlessly for whales to kill and render profits from. Until they battle the leviathan, that is, the monster whale that will lead the boy to the whaler's homeland: an island beset by pirates and war, an island that will restore his memories.