Subduction

DEBUT Single-minded, ambitious, and somewhat abrasive, Latinx anthropologist Claudia Ranks leaves Seattle when she learns of her husband’s involvement with her sister and heads for a Native American whaling village on the Pacific Coast where she once worked. There she reacquaints herself with spirited but fading Maggie, who lives in a trash-to-the-ceiling house and has been diagnosed with dementia. Claudia feels that her research on the Makah is worthy but fragmented and wishes to create a more complete story. But Maggie—and the Makah generally—are evasive, unwilling to share their culture. Meanwhile, Maggie’s son, Peter, a loner like Claudia, has returned to care for his mother after years way. Even as Claudia tries to persuade Maggie to open up, he and Claudia enter into a seesawing relationship that gives them both a sense of belonging while failing to resolve the issue of what comes next in their respective lives.