A tsunami is coming, and East Pukapuka lies in its path Butter, a little girl more worried about her animal friends than herself, is rescued by a loggerhead sea turtle who carries her away on his back. And thus begins a magical, deliciously imaginative story filled with otherworldly characters whose fates are intertwined -- Ophelia, the lovely blond policewoman; Jope and Ratu, the bumbling pirates; Dante Wheeler, who awakes from amnesia into a twilight state, and Albino Paul, a descendant of cannibals who seeks to reclaim his heritage.