William James 'Walrus' Rose’s long-term relationship with volatile ex-erotic dancer Jill has finally turned turtle. As an unsuccessful actor/author/playwright, he's also had a gutful of The Arts with its anus-lickers and parasites. Better a dinkum profession where a bloke's only ambitions are to catch lobster and avoid drowning. Within a day of arrival in Port Gong the locals reduce his nickname ‘Walrus’ to just 'Rus', and he finds work as a deckie with Possum Wright, eccentric skipper of the local fishing fleet's smallest vessel. Possum is a delightful fellow with whom to fish, but Rus has been warned he can be dangerously erratic. Rus therefore seldom completely relaxes when they are offshore. The Southern Ocean is a wondrous but challenging workplace. When its waters turn murderous it is not the spot to be in a small craft beside a bloke, by now far more your cobber than your boss, who appears to be losing his mind.