In 1896, three survivors of a whaling ship-wreck in the Canadian Arctic are saved and adopted by an Eskimo tribe but frictions arise when the three start misbehaving.

Ningiuksiak, an Inuk who lives in the settlement of Cape Dorset, is on a hunt with his family. On his way back to Cape Dorset, Ningiuksiak's snowmobile breaks down. Since he does not have the money to fix it he decides to leave his family and fly to the town of Frobisher Bay to make some money. Ningiuksiak's cousin in Frobisher Bay, Ashoona, a somewhat urbanized Inuk who makes his living as a construction worker or as a cab driver, has drifted away from hunting and the traditional way of life of the remote settlements. Ashoona takes Ningiuksiak in hand and helps him to get a job driving for the Nanook Taxi Company. Increasingly unhappy and bewildered, Ningiuksiak takes to spending his money on liquor and his time in seedy nightclubs. One night, half-heartedly trying to show that he is having a good time, he looks up and sees his wife. She has come to take him home to Cape Dorset.