All the slow-motion environmental catastrophes we're worried about happen, and a few more besides, all in a short, violent. globally devastating outbreak. Callum Israel is captain of the Kapital and founder of a direct-action environmentalist group called Ninth Wave. In the wake of the disaster the crew search for their missing sister ship The Massive and try to find a come to terms with the new world order, and find a way to carry on with their mission, if their ideals can survive the grim and chaotic reality, Callum in particular, hoping to leave behind a violent past, strives to keep Ninth Wave a pacifist movement even in the face of violent upheaval.

A slow-building epic of survival and reconstruction. It's not hard to imagine the world ending up like this after a decade or two (if we're very lucky) of global climate change) it's just been accelerated here (if we're lucky) for narrative effect. The Massive touches a massive raw nerve and covers the most massive and important theme of the modern world.