An insider's look at the origins of surfing, the colorful and subversive birth of surf culture, and the mythology and lure of the "big wave." This passionate and fluid film is the first authentic history of surfing from its humble Hawaiian beginnings to the big business it became to the still rebellious universe it inhabits today. A study in individuality and freedom, the pursuit and techniques of pure kinetic pleasure, and the risk taking and attitudes that characterize its leading figures. Closely chronicling the sometimes-life-and-death drama that big-wave riding entails, the film is a visual thrill ride. But also revealed is the realization that the man versus nature dialectic never ends; the search for the ultimate wave and the spiritual pinnacle can only be pursued but never reached.