Tyler Charles Martin Smith, a young and naïve Canadian biologist, is tasked by the government to travel to the isolated Canadian Arctic wilderness to study why the local caribou population is declining. His assignment includes a stark directive: kill a wolf and examine its stomach contents for caribou tissue. To reach the remote region, he hires pilot Rosie Brian Dennehy Little to fly him in his bush plane.
Upon arrival, the pragmatic mission quickly collides with the harsh reality of the landscape. After landing at the destination, Rosie Brian Dennehy leaves Tyler stranded in the middle of a frozen lake, forcing him to survive in a place where every sound carries weight. A passing Inuk named Ootek Zachary Ittimangnaq offers shelter and guidance as Tyler begins to orient himself to his austere surroundings.
Alone, Tyler splits his days between rigorous scientific work and the instinct to endure. He soon encounters two wolves, whom he names George and Angeline, and they seem as curious about him as he is about them. The relationship that follows is measured and strange: disciplines of study blur with social exchange as the wolves mark territory and, gradually, a fragile trust forms between human and predators. In a bid to understand the food chain from the wolves’ perspective, Tyler even experiments with his own diet, eating only mice to see how the change affects his stamina and stamina’s effect on his observations.
Another encounter alters his isolation: Mike, another Inuk, appears. Mike is a wolf hunter who earns a living pelting and selling pelts, and he confesses to being self-conscious about missing most of his teeth. Tyler shares a novel trick he has learned—by playing certain notes on his bassoon, he can imitate a wolf howl and call other wolves to his location. This uncanny skill deepens the bond between Tyler and the wild chorus around him and adds a new layer to his observations about the wolves’ world.
As autumn tightens its grip, the caribou begin to migrate south. Ootek takes Tyler on a three-day trek to the anticipated route of the herd, and Tyler watches as the wolves launch several unsuccessful attacks. He even helps drive caribou toward the pack, witnessing the brutal efficiency of the wild. In a startling discovery, he samples a bone marrow from a dead caribou and concludes that the caribou are diseased and that the wolves’ killings target the weaker individuals, rather than feeding indiscriminately.
A dramatic turn arrives when Tyler is confronted by Rosie and two investors who intend to develop the lakefront and nearby slopes into a luxury hotel. Rosie insists that Tyler is behaving irrationally and offers to fly him out, but Tyler refuses. Rosie promises to visit in a few days at the camp if he changes his mind, hinting at broader plans that threaten his simple coastal refuge.
When Tyler returns to the camp, the world feels unnervingly still. He ventures into the wolves’ territory to check on the pups, only to find them cowering as the adults are gone. Outside, Rosie’s aircraft drifts closer. Believing Rosie Brian Dennehy has killed George and Angeline, Tyler shouts for him to leave and fires his rifle to intimidate the intruder.
Back at the hut, Tyler finds Mike. The hunter admonishes him to focus on his own survival and hints that he knows more about Rosie’s schemes than he lets on. Mike reveals nothing explicit but leaves behind a sense of looming danger, flashing new dentures as a stark symbol of pride and survival.
With the first snowfall approaching, Tyler returns to his ritual of the wolf call—this time on his bassoon—pulling other wolves from George and Angeline’s pack toward him. He reflects on the arc of his time in the wilderness and the sense that his presence here may have helped usher the modern world into this remote place. Ootek reappears, and the two of them break camp to trek southward across the fall tundra, finding a quiet companionship in their shared endurance and the beauty of a landscape that has tested them both.
