The arc of land and water forming the North Pacific Rim is a cut lace work of rivers running to the great ocean. The salmon, sacred to people who lived along the pathways of its journey, once engorged these rivers, but no more. Thirteen writers from cultures profoundly connected to salmon were asked to write about "the fish of the gods" from both a historical and a contemporary perspective.

These writers from two continents and four countries are Ainu from Japan; Nyvkh from Sakhalin; Ulchi from Siberia; Okanagan and Coastal Salish from Canada; and Makah, Warm Springs and Spokane from the United States. Their writing celebrates the blessedness and mourns the loss of the salmon while alerting us to current dangers and conditions.