Alternate between Sanikiluaq, Northwest Territories (now Nunavut), and St. John's, Newfoundland; between 12-year-old Teresa Norman's crash into Inuit culture and her later life as a 23-year-old adult in the harrowing final phase of coping with the tragedy of her year in Sanikiluaq. She is an innocent victim of severe cultural misunderstanding. Nobody to blame, widespread suffering. With panache, Teresa writes her way into the events leading up to and away from the trauma.