Scott O'Dell

Left alone by her Indian tribe when they decide to sail to the east, Karana, a young Indian girl, lives on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, where she spends eighteen years, surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance. Year after year she waits for the ship to return but it never does. Finally she realizes she must make a fateful choice: follow her people on her own or remain alone for the rest of her life....

Ramon Salazar knows that someday he will become a partner with his father, pearling in the waters off Baja California. But at sixteen, he's more interested in pearling alone. Ramon wants to find the Pearl of Heaven, for with it comes untold riches. But what Ramon doesn't realize is that the pearl brings more than riches. It brings danger, jealousy and even death. He must ask himself: how much is the pearl really worth?