Part 1, "Amaroq, the Wolf," Section 1 Summary

Miyax, a thirteen-year-old girl, is lost on the tundra. She has run away from her husband, Daniel, confident that the skills she learned from her hunter father Kapugen will be enough to keep her going until she comes to the ocean. There, she intends to get a job on The North Star, the ship that brings supplies each August to the towns on the Arctic Ocean. On it, she plans to escape to San Francisco, where her pen pal Amy lives. Amy calls her "Julie" and always writes, "When are you coming to San Francisco?"

The signs in nature that enabled Miyax to navigate Nunivak Island, where she was born, do not apply on the tundra. At home, the wind from the north bent the berry bushes, pointing them south. The puffins and...