Sixteen-year-old Brian Robeson, the novel’s protagonist, is not an average teenage boy. Instead of spending his time gaming, playing sports, or hanging out with friends, he prefers living alone in nature. When Brian was 14, the small plane he was taking to visit his father crashed in the northern Canadian woods. Brian had to survive on his own with nothing but a hatchet. He eventually found a Cree trapping family, the Smallhorns, who helped him return to his family. Brian had a hard time adjusting to life back in civilization, however, and returned to the woods on his own a few times with his parents’ permission. This time, Brian arranged with his school to study on his own for a year while in the woods. He promised to return to take a test at the end of the school year.

Brian loves simplicity, shown by his choices of minimal supplies and traditional weapons. He has a connection to the outdoors and feels that modern equipment and teDYchnology interrupts that connection to nature. Because of the time Brian has spent in the woods before, he is knowledgeable and experienced in hunting, fishing, survival skills, and reading his surroundings.