Pearce Oysters

A family drama set along the Louisiana coastline during the 2010 BP Oil Spill, Pearce Oysters follows a third-generation oyster farmer whose business, family, and livelihood are on the brink of collapse.

Golden Vale, Louisiana, is a hardscrabble coastal town 80 miles south of New Orleans but worlds away culturally. For generations, families have made their living working in commercial fishing or in the petroleum industry. After the sudden death of his father, thirty-five-year-old Jordan Pearce becomes the unwitting head of his family's storied oyster company. Amid Jordan's struggles with flighty employees, a fraught romantic life, living with his distressed, widowed mother, and a fishery that's been on life support for years, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig suddenly explodes off the coast of Louisiana, prompting one of the worst environmental disasters in history.

As fallout from the explosion and subsequent oil spill intensifies, Jordan must grapple with the existential repercussions for his family, and the surrounding community, which has already seen its fair share of hardship, having just barely recovered from Hurricane Katrina. Forced to seek help from his estranged brother, Benny―a beatnik musician who ran away to New Orleans years ago―Jordan and what's left of the quarrelsome Pearce clan are reunited under one roof, alongside a cast of unforgettable regional characters. Jordan’s desperation to save the business, coupled with Benny’s desire to distance himself from his past, test the bonds of their family and the strength of their principles. Together, they must commit to saving this long overlooked corner of the Gulf Coast―a final act of hope in the face of impending tragedy.

This tender, unflagging exploration of industry, class, culture, and the extraordinary beauty in the margins of life, is eye-opening, eco-fiction that elevates the voices of deeply sympathetic characters.

Content Warnings: Grief, Addiction, Animal death