In 1925 Norway, Henrik Larsen, a young writer who can't get his girlfriend to commit to marriage, looks to broaden his horizens by joining a small band of grizzled trappers in remote and frozen Greenland. Thrown together with two enigmatic, possibly psychotic primitives, he has to use all his wits to survive the psychological and physical barriers thrown up before him. Larsen, the sensitive city boy, is pitted against the cunning, vulgar Randbaek. The third man, Holm, is tenaciously loyal to Randbaek, his partner of many years, but has a more open, thoughtful approach to the newcomer in their midst.