Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Native American girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life. Interwoven are descriptions of the island, of fish and ocean vegetation, animals and plants. The way she interacts with nature to survive, hunt, build shelter, and design clothing, both as she had been taught by her people and as she develops her own technological and artistic skills, is a particularly strong aspect of the book.