Odd things are happening in Chad's world. Inanimate objects move, gaping holes appear, and, finally, his stepsister Natalie is sucked into one of these holes and disappears. These happenings all seem to be connected to the strange Prof. Tlingit, and when Chad goes to 'play' with Sophie, who has cerebral palsy with massive disabilities, the two of them also become 'wormholers' and fall into a parallel universe. Here, Sophie, whose mind is brilliant within her disabled body, finds a world where she moves easily and has great power - the world of the whale. She comes to know that she must go back to her own world, even though that means coping with huge difficulties. The concepts in the story, full of environmental issues and philosophical ideas, are not always easy, and readers may find it difficult to accept Sophie's instantaneous ability to communicate once she has a computer keyboard and a head wand to point to the letters. (It seems she has long understood reading and spelling.) However, the writing style is lyrical, and the idea that there can be an active and brilliant brain in a disabled body is a positive one.