At twenty-four, Connie and her young husband, Harmon "Bud" Helmericks, set
out from Fairbanks, Alaska in a homemade canoe. Paddling down the
Tanana and into the great Yukon River, they leave their known world
behind. Five months later, they portage a hundred miles across muskeg
and icing ponds to the Kuskokwim River where they battle shifting ice
into the little town of Bethel near the Bering Sea. Along the journey
they encounter Native villages and isolated settlements, learning from
experience and the kindness of strangers. Connie's honest and lyrical
voice depicts a changing Alaska and its endangered people during a
pivotal moment in history.