Driven to the solitude of the wilderness by what he sees as an act of murder, Simon Steele seeks a place to restore his soul. He arrives on Slate Creek in the Whitecloud Mountains of Idaho Territory in the late spring of 1873.  He sets about the near impossible task of preparing to survive a winter in the mountains and slowly realizes he may have blundered into a death trap. It takes all his physical and mental resources, and no small measure of pure luck, to make it through the first winter. 

        He is befriended by two people: one, a man who runs a string of mules re-supplying prospectors and hard-bitten settlers in the back country, and the other an Indian who appears from time to time, once saving Simon from sure death in a cabin-building accident. From each man he learns some very basic lessons about decency and kindness as well as seeing some hints of treachery.  

        Pining for the only woman he ever loved, time and time again he reads her letter of rejection, always seeing what he wants to see and not what she has written. Alone, with only his dog for company, Simon learns a lot about himself, and comes to understand his place in life. He discovers a small gold deposit, and when his mule skinner friend finds out about it, Simon is taught another hard lesson: not all animals move on four legs.  

      He and his dog have a final battle with the wolverine that has plagued them since they arrived in the valley. Simon, mortally wounded, leaves his beloved dog dying at the scene and makes it back to his cabin where he wakes to find the Indian has saved him from death once again.

        Buell, his boyhood friend whom he thought he’d lost forever appears one day. Buell gets a look at Simon's letter and points out something that Simon has been overlooking for years. Both men admit they want to return home and together they head back to Carlisle.