This film was born from a love affair with a place. In 1978 and 1979, I spent two whole summers kayaking in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Each succeeding winter, I made a 16 mm film from footage shot the previous summer. I went back to Prince William Sound immediately following the Exxon Valdez oil spill. As when a loved one has a terrible accident or becomes acutely ill, I went to be there. I was out in the Sound two weeks then with the Wildlife Rescue Fleet, mostly fishermen from Cordova. Upon returning home, I commenced work on a documentary film on the oil spill. Early in 1991, for a number of reasons, I shelved the project. In 1998 I returned to Prince William Sound, did a six-week kayak trip and shot more footage. A different notion of the film emerged which I engaged in fits and starts, experiencing it predominately as a thwarted urgency. In retrospect, it seemed like the film was bidding its time while I ripened enough to give it form.