Summary

The novel opens with a series of full-page illustrations depicting two wolves running through the woods. Each successive illustration zooms closer and closer into one of the wolves’ eyes. The narrative shifts from illustrations to text and the action is labeled as taking place in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota in June 1977. A young boy named Ben Wilson awakens from his dream about wolves chasing him; a recurring dream he has been having since his mother Elaine’s death a few months prior. Ben has been living with his Aunt Jenny, Uncle Steve, and cousins Robby and Janet since his mother’s death. His uncle and aunt’s home is walking distance from the house he lived in with his mother. Ben was born deaf, but has partial hearing in one of his ears. He overhears his uncle and aunt arguing about when...