Content Warning: The source text uses outdated and offensive language to name and describe Indigenous and First Nations peoples. Please note that this guide uses the term Denésuliné to refer to Indigenous people identified in the source text as “Chipeweyan.” Although “Chipeweyan” or “Chipewyan” were frequently used exonyms at the time the text was published, Denésuliné is the endonym with which this Indigenous group widely identifies.

Jamie Macnair is an orphan whose parents died in a car accident seven years prior. His uncle Angus Macnair has funded his education at the Toronto boarding school for nearly a decade, but funds have run dry. Angus invites Jamie to the wilderness, and Jamie, lacking alternatives and eager for adventure, agrees. He arrives in The Pas by train to find Angus a jovial and exciting companion during the long journey north by canoe.

A year has passed since Jamie left Toronto for remote northern Canadian wilderness. He has enjoyed his time in a small log cabin on Macnair Lake with his uncle and company of Cree who live 20 miles away. Angus’s best friend and wilderness companion is Alphonse Meewasin, leader of the Woodland Cree Indians.