At twenty-four, Connie and her young husband, Harmon "Bud" Helmericks, set

out from Fairbanks, Alaska in a homemade canoe. Paddling down the

Tanana and into the great Yukon River, they leave their known world

behind. Five months later, they portage a hundred miles across muskeg

and icing ponds to the Kuskokwim River where they battle shifting ice

into the little town of Bethel near the Bering Sea. Along the journey

they encounter Native villages and isolated settlements, learning from

experience and the kindness of strangers. Connie's honest and lyrical

voice depicts a changing Alaska and its endangered people during a

pivotal moment in history.