This collection of interlocking stories tells of the people who live in a small town on the Oregon coast. They are young and old, hale and sick, some fleeing horrors and some looking for peace. Some have lived there all their lives, others are just passing through; still others leave and feel compelled to return. Searoad is in many ways a response to Virginia Woolf: its women wonder about rooms of their own, and about war; its men wonder about the women. All the while, the ocean pounds against the coast, wave after wave after wave, scooping up sand and leaving messages in its wake for anyone attentive enough to hear.