When Bill Williams, a half-Irish, half-Athabaskan Indian, left his native Alaskan village after a disastrous bear hunt, he left behind not just the only home he had ever known, but also the girl he loved. It was then that the true adventure of his life began.

He worked on a Yukon riverboat, searched for gold, and took a job building the AlCan Highway. When the country become involved in WWII, Bill signed up and was sent to Europe. the experiences of war were devastating and left him with indelible scars. After surviving the Battle of the Bulge, Bill returned home to discover that his girlfriend was married to his brother and the village was no longer a home for him.

Bill moves to Anchorage, where his life takes a downward plunge into a world of alcoholism, unemployment, and homelessness. But an unlikely series of events suddenly sheds light on the hopelessness of his life, and he is given a second chance at love and happiness when his old girlfriend, now a widow, offers him a team to run in the first one-thousand-mile Iditarod sled dog race--but only if he can rise to the challenge.