A baby boy is given an Inupiat name to go with his English one and grows up learning the traditional ways of the Eskimo people living in the Arctic.

Tigluk and his grandmother paddle out into the Arctic Ocean where they find a young polar bear whose mother has died because of the changes brought about by the warming climate, and they bring the cub back to their town so they can teach it how to survive in a changing world.

When his older sister Julie brings home two small wolf pups, Amaroq takes care of the one called Nutik and grows to love it, even though Julie tells him it cannot stay.