An aging man is nearing the end of his days and he wants to have one last adventure at sea. He purchases a thirty-foot sailboat named Noelle and takes her on his great journey. What follows is a thought-provoking trip inward as we discover what drives this man, and we learn that he could be anyone—even the reader.
Jane, a woman in her mid-eighties, sells him Noelle with everything on board. Below deck he finds reflections of Noelle’s past—tattered sailing charts with routes highlighted by Jane and her husband, items collecting dust that make him wonder about their journeys.
The Book of Seamanship teaches him the basics of sailing, preparing him for his trip. He makes the needed repairs and plans his next step. After talking with Jane, he discovers she and her husband had planned to sail to Tonga, a dream unfulfilled. A carefully folded pristine chart remains on board, with not a single line drawn to the remote islands of Tonga, a 2500-mile journey.
Now he knows where he must take Noelle.
And so begins the journey of a dying man, a man who is preparing to sail away and never return. He thinks of Kathryn, his late wife, and reminisces about the past. He faces storms and becalmed seas and sleeps under the stars. Upon reaching Tonga, he makes a new friend, Lepa, who guides him in his travels through the local islands.
The Last Sunrise follows a man’s love affair with nature as it challenges him during his voyage of self-discovery. Humbled by the ocean, alone with his thoughts, he is drawn into utter peacefulness—his last passage home.
