The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Washburn, Kawai Strong. Sharks in the Time of Saviors. MCD, 2020.

Kawai Strong Washburn's debut novel, Sharks in the Time of Saviors, is divided into four overarching sections, each one containing smaller chaptered divisions. Each chapter is numbered and labeled with the corresponding narrator's first name, and the year and place from which they narrate.

When Noa Flores was a young boy, he fell off his family's boat and into the ocean. His mother, Malia, was furious that her husband, Augie did not try to save him. She dove into the water, and was terrified to find his body hidden by a band of sharks. However, the sharks did not eat Noa. Rather, they delivered him safely back to his family. Taken by the event, Malia and Augie became convinced the episode was a sign from the gods. On New Year’s, after a neighborhood boy was burned by a firework, Noa touched his hand and the child was healed. The community soon discovered Noa's gift, and swarmed the Flores' home. Overcome by thanks to the gods, the family let anyone who needed healing visit Noa.

Meanwhile, Noa's sister, Kaui, and brother Dean, grew frustrated. Noa's gift was distracting their parents, and making them feel invisible. Though they wanted to believe in his capabilities, they also believed their parents' obsession with their brother was unfair and imbalanced. One day, a man visited, complaining that Noa had failed to heal him. The event led Noa into a state of despair. He refused to heal anyone else, and would only play his ukulele. Kaui and Dean grew similarly distant, Kaui retreating into academics, and Dean into basketball.

After they grew up and finished school, Dean moved to Spokane, Washington on a basketball scholarship, Noa started a life in Portland, Oregon, and Kaui began university for engineering in San Diego, California. Dean was thrilled with his new ventures, believing he would finally be able to prove himself to his family and communities. However, his few semesters of success and fame swiftly ended, when he flunked out of school and off the team. He stayed in Spokane, working for a package delivery service. In Portland, Noa attempted to live a normal life. He used his gifts, surreptitiously, in his work as an EMT. He also invested in a deep relationship with a woman named Khadeja. However, when Noa failed to save a woman and her baby in the ambulance he suffered a mental breakdown. Refusing Khadeja's help, he called Dean. Dean was of little help, so Noa returned to Hawaii.

In the meantime, Kaui continued her studies in San Diego. Her relationships with her friends grew more complex. Her love for a girl, Van, became distracting and confusing. Kaui lost her sense of balance and self. Instead of validating her emotions, she hid in her work once again.

Not long after returning to Hawaii, Noa took his mother's advice and ventured off into the valleys of the Big Island. Malia believed the exploration might reconnect her son with his spirituality, and teach him something new about his important gift. However, she soon began panicking when Noa disappeared. Dean returned home to join the search party. Even after the party gave up, Dean kept looking. Finally, he found Noa's abandoned hiking boot and backpack, realizing Noa had died in a landslide. Furious and grieving, Dean fled Hawaii after telling his parents.

Kaui had a similarly difficult time processing Noa's death. She did not return home, and barely emoted. Meanwhile, Malia retreated into memory, praying and calling out to her son's spirit. Augie disappeared entirely into himself, wandering aimlessly and babbling incomprehensibly. When Malia and Augie received word from Noa's former landlords of his overdue rent and their plans to discard his belongings, Dean and Kaui raced to Portland. There they reconnected and opened up about their loss. However, their refusal to leave Noa's apartment got them into trouble, ultimately leading to Dean's arrest and imprisonment. Despairing, Kaui returned to Hawaii.

While Dean served his time, Kaui restored her relationship with her parents and rediscovered her connection with Hawaii, and her love for working with the land. After prison, Dean devoted himself to supporting his parents. Kaui worked on a friend's farm, welcoming her parents to spend time on the seemingly spiritually-resonant landscape. They achieve a sense of renewal.