The residents of Alaska's largest national park are stunned by the death of one of their oldest members, eighty-seven-year-old Old Sam Dementieff...Even private investigator Kate Shugak. Sam, a lifelong resident, dubbed the "father" of all of the Park rats—even though he had no children of his own—was especially close to Kate, his niece, but even she is surprised to discover that in his will he's left her everything, including a letter instructing her simply to, "find my father."