In the aching cold where night bumps into day, Hold hears noises that indicate he isn't alone. Out at the edge of his nets a rudderless dinghy is thumping against the rocks, prey to the ebbing tide. What he finds there changes everything. Grzegorz works hard, no time for rest, just work, more work and little thanks. All he needs is a hand up, one break, one chance. When it comes, with no apparent strings attached, what can he do but take it? The Big Man knows only one kind of life, but it's leaving him behind and he's struggling to keep up, longing for the days when all you needed were a code of honour and a reputation. One random technical hitch later and all three men are set on a journey that none could have foreseen, none can halt and which ends as abruptly as it began - A startlingly realistic portrait of ordinary lives taken to extremes by the acclaimed author of The Long Dry.