Working in the desolate Arctic is not what seventeen-year-old David Jansson planned to do. But when his dad sends for him, he agrees to go. David hasn't seen his father for five years, and the hot-tempered man he finds is not the gentle father he remembers—he has become a domineering, abusive alcoholic. And when David falls for an Inuit girl, dabbles in shamanism, and has visions, his relationship with his father deteriorates. Desperate to leave, David hatches a daredevil plan to escape. But he doesn't account for the ferocity of the Arctic, nor the generosity of spirit of its people. Narrowly escaping death, he discovers that the Arctic seldom gives a man a second chance, and to survive in that frozen world takes the cooperation of all who live there.