| Director | Carroll Ballard |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, film based on book |
| Runtime | 103 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $11 million |
| Box office | $29.6 million |
Tyler, a young and naïve Canadian biologist, is assigned by the government to travel to the isolated Canadian Arctic wilderness and study why the area's caribou population is declining. He has instructions to kill a wolf and examine its stomach contents for caribou tissue. Tyler hires pilot Rosie Little to take him to the Arctic in his bush plane. After landing at the destination, Rosie leaves Tyler in the middle of a frozen lake. A passing Inuk named Ootek shelters him as he orients himself to his new surroundings.
Alone, Tyler divides his days between research and survival. He soon encounters two wolves that he names George and Angeline, who have pups, and seem as curious of him as he is of them. He and the wolves begin social exchanges, including the marking of territory, producing trust and respect between them. Noticing that they have not eaten any caribou and only mice, he begins a side experiment of eating only mice for protein sustenance.
Another Inuk named Mike encounters Tyler. He tells Tyler that he is self-conscious about missing most of his teeth. Tyler discovers that Mike is a wolf hunter, killing for pelts to sell to make a living. Tyler demonstrates a trick he has learned: by playing certain notes on his bassoon, he can imitate a wolf howl, calling other wolves in.
Autumn nears, and Tyler hears that the caribou are migrating south. Ootek takes him on a three-day hike to where the caribou will be, and Tyler observes the wolves make several unsuccessful attacks. He helps drive caribou towards the pack, which takes one down. Tyler takes a bone and samples the marrow, discovering the dead caribou to be diseased. This confirms that the wolves kill only the weaker caribou.
One day Tyler encounters Rosie and two investors, who have bought the lakefront and mountain slope to develop a hotel. Rosie tells him that he is behaving irrationally and offers to fly him out. Tyler refuses, but Rosie promises to visit him in a few days at the camp in case he changes his mind.
Tyler returns to the camp to find things very still. He ventures into the wolves' territory to find the pups cowering in fear and the two adults gone. Rosie's aircraft approaches outside. Believing that Rosie killed George and Angeline, Tyler shouts at him to leave and fires his rifle to scare him away.
Returning to his camp again, Tyler finds Mike in the hut. When Tyler asks about the wolves, Mike admonishes him to focus on his own survival and hints that he knows about Rosie's plans. He flashes new dentures and leaves.
Some time later, as the first snow begins to fall, Tyler plays the wolf call on his bassoon, bringing in other wolves from George and Angeline's pack. He reflects on his time in the wilderness and how he may have helped bring the modern world to this place. Ootek returns, and he and Tyler break camp and trek across the fall tundra to the south, enjoying each other's company.