Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian 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.Karana is that girl. She becomes stranded on the Island of the Blue Dolphins after her tribe leaves on a ship for the mainland without her and her brother, Ramo. A pack of wild dogs kills Ramo, and when Karana tries to avenge her brother's death, she befriends the pack leader and names him Rontu.