Fred Henderson is a bush pilot flying three passengers from Kenora, Ontario, to a fishing lodge on Trout Lake-they are George White, an Anishinaabe fishing guide who works at the lodge; Ruth Denver, the grown daughter of the lodge owners; and Michael Cleveland, an academic from Toronto meeting friends already staying at the lodge. When Henderson's Cessna 206 is forced to perform an emergency crash landing on an unnamed pothole lake miles from the filed flight plan, the prospect of rescue seems remote, and the four must decide how they will face the many challenges Northern Ontario has in store for them.