Melancholy and poetic, Drowning in Sand centers on Map Barons, who is in an oceanfront convalescent unit. However, the Atlantic Ocean is polluted to a point of mass die-offs, the littered beach is surrounded by the trashline, the only progress is the erosion, rouge waves get close to the convalescent units (sometimes too close), and derelict freighters burn constantly offshore. Welcome to Sickie Shoals, a barrier island (or is it a burial island?) on the eastern seacoast, where the cures are often worse than the illnesses and the staff is more cruel than compassionate.