During the middle of a snowstorm in early December, Sam Gribley sits inside his hollowed-out tree home in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Sam writes a journal entry about his adventure, which he says began eight months prior when he ran away from home to live off the land. He stays warm from a small fire he’s built inside the tree house; he stays well fed and healthy from eating nuts and berries, venison, fish, and small game, which Sam keeps a supply of inside the walls of the tree home.

A few days later the snowstorm ends, allowing Sam to leave his tree and explore the surrounding snowy forest. He admits to the reader that he felt scared but is now excited to have survived his first snowstorm. Sam also mentions that he has been preparing for winter since last May, when he first arrived in the mountains and learned how to build a fire, find plants, and catch animals and fish to eat.

Sam recalls the third day in December, when this snowstorm arrived: He describes the sky darkening, the temperature dropping, and the forest becoming quiet. Sam admits that these ominous conditions made him contemplate running back to his home in New York, where, in contrast, “a snowstorm always seemed very friendly” (8).