Fifteen-year-old Texan Gabe flies north into the wild subarctic of Canada to visit his dad who is working at a diamond mine. A tragic accident leaves Gabe and his roommate Raymond stranded in a remote region of Canada. Raymond is forced to recall the wilderness knowledge that he learned in his youth in order to survive, and Gabe must find the inner strength to save them both after Raymond is injured in an icefall.

From the window of the small floatplane, fifteen-year-old Gabe Rogers is getting his first look at Canada's magnificent Northwest Territories with Raymond Providence, his roommate from boarding school. Below is the spectacular Nahanni River -- wall-to-wall whitewater racing between sheer cliffs and plunging over Virginia Falls. The pilot sets the plane down on the lake-like surface of the upper river for a closer look at the thundering falls. Suddenly the engine quits. The only sound is a dull roar downstream, as the Cessna drifts helplessly toward the falls . . .

With the brutal subarctic winter fast approaching, Gabe and Raymond soon find themselves stranded in Deadmen Valley. Trapped in a frozen world of moose, wolves, and bears, two boys from vastly different cultures come to depend on each other for their very survival.