A young otter, kidnapped in his infancy and raised as a warrior-thief by a band of vermin, leaves the tribe and goes off to seek adventures of his own.

Tarka the otter pursues an active life, sometimes playful and sometimes dangerous, in the Devonshire countryside.

"Elliott the otter lives in Puget Sound's Elliott Bay and claims it's named after him. And why wouldn't it be, since he's in charge of its daily activity? From the freighters bringing in cargo from around the world to the salmon passing through on their way upstream, Elliott is the boss of it all"--