On one side of the river is a ranch once owned by Eugene Robertson, who came in the gold rush in 1860, and stayed on as a homesteader. On the other side is a Shuswap community that has its own tangled history with the river - and the whites. At the heart of the story are Hannah and Brandon Robertson, who are raised by their grandfather after their mother drowned and their dad took off. Now the ranch they grew up on is not doing so well and the river it borders is dying. In one traumatic afternoon, the river nearly claims the lives of both Hannah's grandfather and her little brother, and their world is thrown in chaos. Hannah, her best friend from across the river, Alex, and most especially Brandon - whose immersion changes him utterly - come to doubt their own reality as they are pulled deep into Brandon's visions, which mix the myths of the Shuswap culture with tragic family stories of the past.