Young Angus MacKenzie went to Narwhale Bay to rectify a sin committed by his father, who died before revealing his secret. But on meeting Ugruk, he understood his father's anguish. Ugruk was his half-brother. Emil Konrad, a cruel, strong materialist proposed to drive Angus from Narwhale Bay but found his way barred by his daughter Gretchen. Konrad is killed in a fight, and Angus, Gretchen and Ugruk flee over the ice to a deserted prospector's cabin, and marooned in the bleak and desolate north country, these three played out the drama of life and death.