During the last Ice Age, a young Dreamer receives a vision of a wolf leading his people away from starvation and violence in their old homeland. A small band follows him across the frozen northern passage into an unknown continent, carrying only the skills, stories and relationships that have allowed them to survive.
The migration divides those who trust the Dreamer from those who see his visions as dangerous. The novel follows the physical ordeal of crossing ice and tundra alongside the creation of a founding story that later generations will remember as the beginning of their life in North America.