Even though I'm not into fly-fishing, I found myself quite interested in this novel. The novel starts out telling us about the author's cousin, Guido Rahr, a rather isolated person who preferred catching snakes and lizards to socializing with his peers. He's a mediocre student, suffers from math dyslexia, and more or less finishes high school at a private school near Sedona where he's basically spends his time away from the classroom. he becomes obsessive about fly-fishing and lands a job on a weekly television show teaching others about the sport while he's a college student. He learns that he is quite able to connect with people when talking about lizards, snakes, fishing, and becomes obsessed to save the last great salmon rivers in the world.,

Tucker Malarkey reconnects with Guido after they are both married and raising children in Oregon. She starts to travel with Guido to Russia on fishing expeditions in remote areas, knowing these adventures will eventually become a part of this book. At times, the pace slows down with a barrage of facts, but then we're back on the river, or with Guido's frustrated wife, lamenting how she's raising three sons alone while he's out trying to save the salmon. I hadn't thought so much about salmon until reading this and it truly is a shame we are losing so many rivers to developers.