Seventeen-year-old Johnny Least-Weasel knows that his grandfather Albert is a stubborn old man and won't stop checking his own traplines even though other men his age stopped doing so years ago. But Albert Least-Weasel has been running traplines in the Alaskan wilderness alone for the past sixty years. Nothing has ever gone wrong on the trail he knows so well. When Albert doesn't come back from checking his traps, with the temperature steadily plummeting, Johnny must decide quickly whether to trust his grandfather or his own instincts. Written in alternating chapters that relate the parallel stories of Johnny and his grandfather, this novel poignantly addresses the hardships of life in the far north, suggesting that the most dangerous traps need not be made of steel.

This is an astonishing tale of survival; a poignant Robinson Crusoe story, based on true events. When Seth and his dog, Tucker, are washed overboard from his father's fishing boat during a torrential storm, they are assumed drowned. But by good fortune, Seth and Tucker make it safely to one of the hundreds of islands that line the Alaskan coast. Over many months, the boy and his dog make their way, island by island, towards home, while Seth's desperate father never gives up hope. Along the way, Seth learns many hard lessons about survival, and even harder lessons about himself.