Agoraphobic suburban housewife Ann waits for her schlubby nineteen-year-old son Brian to call but learns that he's been swallowed by a whale and is alive in those huge lungs. Called crazy, she’s determined to find that whale and get him out. Brian survives in his new home, for the first time learning skills, and to respect himself. When a young woman from Norway is swallowed as well, her mother and Ann hire a boat to find their children. Intertwining stories of an Alaska native State Trooper, an eight-year-old girl abducted by her dangerously unstable father, a mutt Pinocchio, and Brian’s message-in-a-bottle, bring unexpected help to the futile cause. Mother and son undergo astounding transformations through their journeys. As the hired boat finally reaches the great beast, a whaling ship attacks, and Ann starts a harpoon showdown with the whalers. A convoy of ships and the Coast Guard arrive, summoned from afar, and drive off the whaler. Brian and Ann are reunited, and now recognize each other for the brave self-reliant adventurers they've both become.