During the fourth quartile of the 20th Century, Ellen FitzGerald and Sharon Sibbald decide to become commercial fisherman in Alaska. They carry weapons, sleep in four-sets of clothes, try to speak over the howl of fearsome wind, realize that the rain spatter on their faces is the wind blowing the water out of the river - not from the sky,  witness fistfights and gun-play as a male dominated world unfolds around them, gain the respect of their male counterparts, and once in a while are known as "High Liners."