Storm

The story opens with Sebah's description of how a rape victim had her tongue cut out so she couldn't tell what had happened to her and how, since then, other girls just keep silent. Untold thousands of people perish in the flood, including Sebah's family, and their distress is vividly described. Sebah and her companions kill animals, including cute babies, to survive, and witness the needless death of others, including a baby whale that dies in a fishing net. Sebah lives with the constant threat of being thrown overboard if she's discovered. Aban, who becomes her husband, initially strikes her and treats her badly, but their relationship improves.

Humans (including Sebah and two different men) have sex (or "mate," in Sebah's term) often, but there's little detail. Animal sex, especially between bonobos Queen and The Male, is constant, gleeful, and explicit: "Queen licks The Male's chest. She doesn't glance at the woman, not even quickly. She moves her head lower down The Male's torso, licking, licking. The Male makes a loud moan. Ham's wife gasps and covers her mouth." Noah has forbidden any sex on the Ark, causing much tension and strife. Sebah worries about how her menstrual periods will affect the oversexed Male, and in one scene an animal explores her nipple. One human character is pregnant.

Noah's sons regularly call one another "jerk" and "moron." Characters use "s--t" and other terms in referring to the plentiful excrement on the Ark.

Noah's sons describe their father as "drunk out of his mind" at a gathering where all of them were drinking.