On this desolate rock, Susan finds two embattled scientists, Cal and Mike, fighting to protect the great whites from the only enemy formidable enough to wipe them out: humans. The rugged pair live and survive by their own rules, conducting their unconventional research far from the glare of the public eye. Until now. Susan convinces Cal that publicity could help their mission to save the sharks. But Mike fears Susan's story might doom everything they've devoted their lives to, and suspects that his partner's judgment is clouded by a growing attraction to Susan.

To save her magazine and her career, Susan needs the story of the man-eater brought to justice. She needs to give the people the monster they love to hate, which is everything Cal and Mike are fighting against. Then Susan comes eye-to-eye with the great white shark and in one intimate, violent flash, everything changes. She glimpses the reality behind the myth, the soul behind the teeth. She recognizes the vulnerability of these magnificent predators, the horror of their slaughter, and her responsibility to take a stand against it. Now she must choose: report the story she's been assigned, or gamble her career and ultimately her life to save a creature reputed to be a mindless killing machine. It's a choice between the life she knows, and the ancient life that now whispers to her from the steel-cold depths of a mysterious island.