The tiny fishing community of Deeper Harbour is in serious trouble, and
so is fourteen-year-old Roland MacTavish. His parents are separated, and
his mother has just told him that she's moving to Ottawa and taking him
with her. She doesn't think Deeper Harbour, with its closing school and
dismal economic future, has anything to offer her and Roland anymore.
But Roland disagrees. He loves his father, his weird friend Dulsie, and
most of all, his wild, hilarious, unpredictable grandfather, Angus. So
with the help of his friends, he does what any rational teenager would
do: he invents a sea monster.
News of the monster spreads, until real live tourists start to turn off
the new highway and visit Deeper Harbour, giving everyone hope that the
town may actually be resuscitated. But before he can celebrate his
successes, Roland faces a sadness that goes far beyond separated parents
and new cities, and finally discovers that change, however frightening,
is not the most painful thing in the world.