The inlet is wild and remote, separated from the rest of the world by the moody Queen Charlotte herself, her floor littered with shipwrecks. There are no shops, restaurants, hospitals, cell service or Internet. At the mouth, like teeth bared to discourage entry, are rocks and rocky islets, white with the breaking of swells rolled all the way from Japan. Long avoided and bypassed by others, Smith Inlet, BC, was home to the Gwa'sala (People of the North).

This is the story of Smith Inlet and the men and women strong enough to live there. First the Gwa'sala, then trappers, fishermen, cannery workers in specially created summer communities, gyppo loggers, bootleggers, and lone men running away from their fears. The mixing of peoples is illustrated by spirits and masks, mission boats and murders, schools, funerals, courage and friendship.

And in between and inside all this, there is the GMG logging camp, and a girl growing up on the floats.