Angus finds his friend and family living in a poverty stricken outport They fish daily and their catch goes to the store controllwed and operated by grasping, controlling storekeeper. Records of transactions are ineptly kept and everyone in the outport owes the store and has never been able to get ahead or out of debt. Angus takes matters into his own hands and exposes the illegal, non-existent booking and declares All the villagers debt=free. A young son Corney of a village family absorbs the world and his existence throuh reading. Corney befriends a caribou herd on the barrens and now does the bookkeeping for the untrustworthy storekeeper.