Following the unfortunate death of his parents, young Toby Matthias finds himself living a carefree life on Piper Cay, an Out Island in the Bahamas, at his grandparents' inn. Isolated from children his own age, Toby develops a deep and lasting friendship with an unlikely companion: a bottlenose dolphin.

A heartwarming tale, The Boy and the Dolphin follows the tropical adventures of Toby and Phinney as they make sense of life in the mid-fifties. When Toby is sent to complete his education in the States and Phinney immerses herself more deeply in her dolphin culture, the best friends experience ever-increasing separations. But even while Toby serves his country in the skies over Vietnam, the boy and the dolphin share an unbreakable, decade-long bond.