Aneze, a young Inuit girl, is left for dead after her village is ripped apart by a wife-raid; her father and brother are killed and her mother is kidnapped.

Aneze is the only survivor. She renames herself Orphan Ahwak as she struggles to survive on her own, first in the forest and then in a remote world of tundra and sea-ice. She endures cold and hunger and befriends people whose customs are completely foreign to her. Through it all she remains determined to become a hunter and to find a place in an often hostile and terrifying world.