The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Van Pelt, Shelby. Remarkably Bright Creatures. Ecco, 2022.

Van Pelt's novel takes place in the fictional town of Sowell Bay, Washington, and alternates between the perspective of humans and Marcellus the octopus. Chapters from Marcellus's point of view are presented in the first-person and are titled as days in captivity, counting down to his imminent death. Chapters from the human perspective alternate between the point of view of Tova Sullivan, Cameron Cassmore, and Ethan Mack, are titled as a quote from that chapter, and are presented in the third-person narrative style.

Marcellus McSquiddles is a Giant Pacific Octopus who displays his intellectual prowess from captivity in his tank at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. A widow named Tova Sullivan works her night shift cleaning the aquarium, a job she takes very seriously. While working, she thinks often of her deceased son, Erik. One night, she finds an escaped Marcellus tangled in a mess of power chords and saves his life, but not before she is left with a series of sucker marks on her arm from his tentacles.

When not working, Tova spends quiet time alone at home or meets with her friends in a group they call the Knit-Wits. They share town gossip and tell stories about their children and grandchildren. Tova is distant and removed at these meetings, still consumed with grief from the loss of her son Erik, who drowned in Puget Sound and whose death still remains a mystery 30 years later. She lacks real human connection after his disappearance and the more recent death of her husband, Will.

After losing his job again and being dumped by his girlfriend, Cameron Cassmore follows a lead to Sowell Bay, in search of his estranged father. He believes the man to be a wealthy real estate developer by the name of Simon Brinks. Cameron meets Ethan Mack, the manager of the local grocery store, who helps him when his camper breaks down. When Tova sprains her ankle at work, Ethan recommends Cameron to the job. Tova shows up nightly to check in on the new employee and they slowly develop a friendship.

Though Cameron's search for Simon Brinks continues to turn up empty handed, he is holding down steady employment and meets a new girlfriend named Avery. Meanwhile, Tova constantly wonders about her missing son, and begins to worry about who will take care of her in old age as she watches her friends from the Knit-Wits secure end-of-life arrangements. When her brother Lars dies, she resigns herself to sell her house and move into the retirement home where he spent his last years. She is determined to care for herself, though she doesn’t love the option of moving into a ritzy convalescent home, and none of her friends approve.

Tova meets an old friend of Erik’s, Adam Wright, who tells her that Erik did indeed have a girlfriend at the time of his disappearance. It is a fact she always suspected but could never prove. She wonders constantly about who it could have been and why Erik didn’t tell her.

As the story unfolds, the brilliant Marcellus is assembling clues about the true nature of the story. He found the key to Tova’s house and memorized its pattern, which matches a key he found in a pile of human remains on the bottom of the sea before his capture. He knows about the death of her son. He sees too many similarities between Tova and Cameron to doubt they are related. He knows Cameron’s birthday from his driver’s license he stole and knows it matches up with Erik’s disappearance. He commits to making all these secrets known to his friend Tova.

Tova finally finds out that Erik’s girlfriend was named Daphne. Her friend Ethan at the grocery store remembers this name from years earlier and puts it together that Daphne was Cameron’s mother. But just as these details are cohering into resolutions, Cameron leaves town for California frustrated about his relationship with Avery and the news from Simon Brinks that he his not his father.

During his trip back to California, Marcellus hides Cameron’s driver’s license where Tova will find it and discover his date of birth. Later, she arrives at the aquarium to find him almost dead and saves his life for the second time. Under him she finds the high school class ring that Cameron has been carrying on the search for his father and has her son’s initials engraved inside. She has no doubt now that Cameron is her grandson.

Knowing that Marcellus doesn’t have much longer to live, Tova releases him back to the sea. Cameron returns and finds Tova at her now empty house, ready to move to the retirement community. He apologizes for the angry way he left, and announces he is determined to make things right with her and the rest of the community in Sowell Bay.

She reveals to him that she is his grandmother, and that her missing son Erik is his father. Tova and Cameron move into a new condo together, and live happily with their closest friends, Avery and Ethan.