The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Paull, Laline. Pod. Pegasus, 2022.

Paull's novel is divided into 34 chapters. Ea, a young dolphin coming of age, is the main character, and most of the chapters are from her perspective. The other chapters focus on other creatures of the sea.

The novel begins with a prologue showing Ea as an elder, the last member of the Longi tribe, reflecting on how much pain she endured to get to where she is now. The rest of the novel takes place when she is just growing into an adult dolphin. She feels like an outsider because she cannot spin like the other members of the Longi tribe. Spinning bonds them to the ocean in ways that Ea does not understand. She hears a whale off in the distance, and her mother confirms he is singing of pain; Ea wants to help him, but her mother says there is not anything she can do.

The whale Ea heard had most of his family killed by a ship in the ocean, and he is roaming the ocean alone. Meanwhile, the Tursiops tribe, another pod of dolphins, hears a storm coming. Devi, the head wife of the leader of the Tursiops, punishes another wife, Yaru, for what she perceives as attempting to threaten her power. She casts her to the back during the storm, and Yaru's calf dies in the confusion before Yaru swims away.

Meanwhile, a Tursiops dolphin named Google has been captured by a human military to perform tasks for them. He is severely burned during a mission and is able to escape his cage, swimming freely into the ocean.

Ea sees a group of mantas, and they impart a message to her that she has to break the pod. A remora fish sticks to her skin during this, which Ea loathes. Ea is finally able to spin when she tries to flail around to get the remora off, but her mother swims toward her, warning her of a shark that is coming for her. The shark seizes and attacks her mother as Ea swims away. Upon recovering, Ea leaves the pod, heartbroken, believing her presence will only cause pain.

A wrasse fish, whose family was killed by a ship, finds himself in the Tursiops water, in an area called the pinnacles. Meanwhile, the Tursiops females have learned that Yaru was raped by four sub-males of the tribe during the storm. They are exiled by Ku, their leader.

Google swims around in desperate search for his captors, and the whale that Ea heard, a rorqual, finds him. His song of pain comforts Google, but they see two ships and split up to save themselves. Ea, swimming desperately, is captured by the four Tursiops sub-males, who hope to use her to buy their pardon with the tribe. They swim into the Sea of Tamas, a dangerous area littered with plastic, and one of the four is killed when he gets trapped in it.

Meanwhile, the wrasse, who is in the process of transitioning back to female, finds a society of clams near the pinnacles.

The three sub-males and Ea approach the Tursiops tribe at last. Their crimes are immediately forgiven when Ku and the others see Ea; they have never seen a member of the famed Longi tribe in person. Ku takes her as his newest wife and rapes her. Shortly after, a boat of humans drives by and feeds them dead fish, which confuses Ea. She tries to escape amid the frenzy, but fails, and Ku rapes her as punishment. The remora finally detaches from Ea and onto Chit, Devi's son, afterwards.

Meanwhile, the Longi are confronted with a group of pilot whales, old enemies of theirs. They have been decimated by humans' ships and beg for forgiveness from the Longi. The Longi accept them. Ea goes hunting with Devi and Devi is punished, as women are not allowed to hunt there. The Tursiops' supply of sarpa, fish with a hallucinogenic property when eaten, is poisoned and becomes inedible. Meanwhile, the wrasse finds himself bonding with the clams, transitioning further from male to female. Google finds the dead sub-male in the Sea of Tamas and vows to find his people.

The vira games happen among the Tursiops tribe to determine who will become the head of the community. Ku is defeated by Split, his second-in-command, and Ku and Split are cast out. However, they are returned by Google. Ku is severely injured. Google confuses Split and the Tursiops, and he refuses to kill Ku as Split commands him to, so he gets kicked out. However, he makes a strong connection with Ea in the few minutes he gets within the tribe.

The Spawning Moon, a night of mating and peace in the ocean, comes around. Split orders the Tursiops to hunt, which is forbidden among creatures of the ocean that night. Google and Ea find each other during the confusion, and they mate. Split finds her and punishes her with threats of rape. Google hears boats nearby and goes to warn Ea and the Tursiops, but they begin to attack all the animals in the sea. Ea, remembering when the mantas told her to break the pod, goes to tell Devi, and they create a gap between the boats so the dolphins can find their way through. Google sacrifices himself to make a wider gap, allowing Ea and the others to escape, but he dies in the process.

The wounded remaining pod members swim toward the pinnacles and see the wrasse, who has died in sexual ecstasy among the clams. They go to find the Longi homewater. When they arrive, Ea is initially afraid because of the pilot whales, and she learns that the Longi's homewater has been destroyed by the humans. They all join together in search of the rorqual whale from earlier, whose call promises sanctuary for all creatures in the ocean.