Peter lives in Dark Tickle. One day as he drifts off to sleep on the sand, the sea sings to him a mournful dream song: "Where have the fish all gone?" Then Peter awakens, he sets out on a journey in search of an answer to the sea's question. He meets old Mrs. Dooley who remembers the way fishing used to be; his friend Sarah who loves the sea but has to move away; a young marine biologist who explains about the fish she is studying; & fisherman Tom O'Brien who has built a boat in hopes that the fish will come back.