Reef is a love story set in a spoiled paradise. It is told by Triton, who, at the age of eleven, goes to work as houseboy to Mister Salgado, a marine biologist obsessed by swamps, sea movements and the island's disappearing reef. Triton learns to polish silver until it shines like molten sun; to mix a love cake with ten eggs, creamed butter and fresh cashew nuts; and to steam the exotic parrot fish for his master's lover. As Triton recounts his story, and extraordinary voice emerges: naive and knowing, fearful and brave, the voice of a boy becoming a man in a world stumbling to the brink of chaos.