Sixteen year-old Inuk lives a troubled life with his alcoholic mother and violent step-father. The social services decide to send Inuk to a home for neglected Inuit children.

One morning, after pulling the half-frozen boy out of an abandoned car, social services send him north, to a children's home on a tiny island in the middle of the arctic sea-ice. There, Inuk meets Ikuma, a local polar bear hunter, who has his own share of problems. He is haunted by his troubled past and his extraordinary hunting skills are mysteriously disappearing. The children's home's warm-hearted director, Aviaaja, asks Ikuma to take Inuk on his annual seal-hunting trip.

The authenticity of the film was intensified by the exceptional performance of the nonprofessional Inuit actors.