Tova is alone in her house. Her husband died from cancer and her son disappeared at 19 years old (presumed dead in a boat accident). She works doing cleaning in an aquarium, despite being retired, to keep herself busy. During her work, she get exposed to the presence of a giant pacific octopus, which happens to be much more smarter than what people would think.
Cameroon is a mess, despite being described as smart. He loose his job, breaks with his girlfriend, doesn't know his parents and leave with his aunt which he feels should not have to care about him. After receiving a small bag of jewelry, which contains a ring from his father, he decides to find him. This leads him to Sowell Bay, where he will meet Tova and the small group of inhabitants from the place.
Eventually, and thanks to the help of the octopus, Tova and Cameroon will understand the parenting link that bonds them: him being the child of the dead son of Tova.
This is a very pleasant book to read. Tova is interesting and relatable: she never gets upset, does the job properly, drive her live continuously. She doesn't express much her emotion but doesn't struggle with everyday little pains either. Even selling her house and getting to a retirement home, which is a big decision, prone to a lot of inner struggle, seems to go smooth for her: she decides and commit.
The title of the book lead me to believe that the story was about a remarkably bright creature: the octopus. Even if the octopus is indeed very smart, close to the end of the book, it state that it was happy to have know Tova and Cameroon, two remarkably bright creatures.