This is the story of lost youth, its attractions, its compulsions, its moments of heartbreak and of madness. Bruce Pike, affectionately known as Pikelet, is irresistibly drawn to the sea. One summer he defies his parents and goes surfing for the first time. This experience is to mark his adolescence with astonishing power, throwing him together with his oddball friend Loonie, and their hero, Sando, whose life by the shore is not without complications. Together they learn what it is to be extraordinary, how to push their bodies and emotions to the limits, and how to live with the emptiness of having left that intensity behind.