Nick enjoys his life in the small Canadian Arctic Inuit village of Aklavik, but things are changing. His grandfather, Jonas, is dying of cancer, the herds of caribou are decreasing rapidly with the warming weather, and Nick is attacked by a strange and ferocious bear that is a cross between a polar bear and a grizzly. When his half brother, Ryan, wants Nick to go on a wildlife photo shoot with him, Nick isn't sure he wants to go. Jonas convinces him that he can hang on long enough, and that he would like to hear about Nick's adventures in the wilderness. Ryan has done a lot of wilderness traveling for his job as a photographer, and this latest trip is for an article about the changing climate in the Arctic and how it is affecting the wildlife. Nick is definitely interested in this, and appreciates how sensitive Ryan is to the difficult issues in his life. The two set off for a remote area only to have their raft overturn a few miles into their journey. They manage to survive the freezing water, horrific mosquitoes, and lack of supplies and find their raft, only to have to battle grizzlies, the "grolar" bear, and the worst storm the area has seen in years. This is certainly the trip of a lifetime, and Ryan and Nick not only bond, but find out alarming facts about the affect that climate change is having on this area of the world.