Along beaches from Santa Barbara to San Diego, emaciated sea lion pups keep washing ashore, thousands of them, with more than 3,100 strandings recorded in 2015 alone. The film follows rescue workers and marine biologists as they weigh the dying pups, tube-feed them at overwhelmed facilities like the Marine Mammal Center, and try to explain why mothers are abandoning pups too young to fend for themselves. Warmer Pacific waters, tied to shifting currents and a developing El Nino, have pushed the sardines and anchovies that nursing sea lions depend on farther from the Channel Islands rookeries, forcing mothers to swim longer distances for food and leaving pups to starve while they wait. Footage shows volunteers combing the shoreline for stranded animals, veterinarians examining ribs visible through skin, and release days when rehabilitated pups are returned to the surf. Scientists interviewed treat the die-off as a visible symptom of a larger, still-unfolding change in ocean conditions along the West Coast.