(This story contains depictions of rape.) Centuries ago, an enslaved pregnant woman plunged into the ocean to escape her captors and became the first MotherJumper, a new species of humans evolved to live underwater. Years later, her descendant, a young woman named Junpee, wishes to return to land, for the once hospitable ocean has become capricious and deadly due to the changing climate. Scarred by the past however, the elders remain distrustful of civilization on land. For her friend Sosal’s birthday party, Junpee leads her friends to gather delicious seaweed at a small island where she hopes to soon make her new home with her boyfriend, Amilo. On the way home, the group is attacked by a crazed manatee that kills all the women in the group, save Junpee. The elders blame Junpee for endangering her friends' lives by dragging them to the island. On her way home, a few of the men brutally rape Junpee, claiming it is her duty to bear their children now that she brought death to all the young women in the tribe. In an act of vengeance, Junpee’s parents stab the rapists, further exacerbating the fracture in their community.  Junpee gives birth to twin stillborns. She spends her day healing at home with her parents and her boyfriend and nurtures hope for life on land in the future.