Eleanor Hancock writes about individuals who pioneered the west coast of Vancouver Island, from a Swiss prospector and trapper to boat builders and counterfeiters, a woman of the 1938 Zeballos gold rush, a nurse who opened the hospital at Kyuquot, Nuu-chah-nulth at Friendly Cove and a Latvian who photographed the development of Nootka Sound.

The author grew up in Zeballos and now lives in the BC interior.