Chapter 1-3 Summary

A man sits on a plane looking out the window at the Pacific Ocean covered in an oil spill off the coast of Los Angeles. At the airport the man buys a paper with news of the oil spill splashed across the front page. The man drives towards Pacific Point and the center of the oil spill. Once there he meets a young woman on the beach who has rescued an oil-covered grebe with the intentions of cleaning it off. The man follows the woman for a short time before stopping at a restaurant along the wharf.

At the restaurant the man meets a worker from the busted oilrig and asks him what happened. The worker at first seems a little reluctant to discuss the situation but eventually lets it slip that the Lennox company owns the oilrig. Inside the restaurant...