Remarkably Bright Creatures

Tova Sullivan is an elderly widow who works as a somewhat misanthropic night janitor at an aquarium in fictional Sowell Bay, Washington, despite having been encouraged to retire.

After the deaths of her son Erik years earlier, and more recently, her husband, Tova becomes more withdrawn from her everyday life, including her friend group she dubs the “Knitwits” who spend more time gossiping than knitting. At work, she shares her friends' gossip and develops a friendship of sorts with Marcellus, an elderly but wise octopus who longs to escape from the aquarium. One day, he attempts an escape but is discovered by Tova, who finds him by tracking a slippery path on the floor. After attempting to return him to his aquarium, she slips, injuring her ankle and requiring her to take time off to heal.

Around the same time, Cameron Cassmore, an aspiring musician, ends up in town after experiencing motor trouble. Broke, he seeks temporary work to pay for the repairs to the van his recently deceased mother Daphne left him. He's hired to replace Tova at the aquarium while she recuperates. Unable to stay away, she happens upon Cameron at work and chides him for his slacker attitude towards his job. She shows Cameron the value of taking pride in his work and shares her relationship with Marcellus, creating a bond between her and Cameron.

One day, Cameron searches the van and finds that Daphne left behind multiple personal possessions, including a ring left by Cameron’s father, with the letters “EELS” engraved into it, as well as a name: Simon Brinks. After some difficulty, Cameron finds Brinks, who has since become a successful real estate mogul. Brinks agrees to meet Cameron, who expects him to admit paternity. Brinks says his relationship with Daphne was strictly platonic, as he is gay. Brinks explains that Daphne helped front a heterosexual image for him while he was in school with peers and his homophobic parents.

Frustrated at the revelation - including news from his former bandmates that they wish to quit their band "Moth Sausage" - Cameron arrives at work and angrily hurls the ring into the eels' aquarium. Marcellus witnesses this and escapes into the eels' tank to retrieve it.

Throughout this is a subplot involving Tova's mental health struggles, which include frequent hallucinations of Erik. Believing herself to be in the early stages of dementia, Tova decides to move into a senior community and puts her house up for sale. Soon after, she learns that Marcellus doesn't have long to live. After seeing him try to escape again - this time to a door facing the docks - Tova deduces that Marcellus wishes to return to the sea to die there.

Tova puts Marcellus into a bucket and takes him to the end of the dock. She lowers the bucket to the water's surface and lets Marcellus crawl out of it and into the sea. She looks into the bucket afterwards and finds the ring. Cameron arrives a short time later and Tova explains to him that "EELS" was her late son's initials, and that Erik is Cameron's father, thus making him Tova's grandson and bringing both of them peace at last.

Afterwards, Cameron finds a box under the floorboards in Erik's bedroom, which had been untouched since his disappearance.

Tova opens the box, finding pictures of Erik with Daphne and a list of names with "Cameron" circled. This discovery confirmed their relationship and his paternity, revealing that Erik actually named Cameron before his passing.