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Ningiuksiak (Joanasie Salomonie), an Inuk who lives in the settlement of Cape Dorset, In the Canadian Northwest Territories, 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 - and since he is tempted to try another kind of life - 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 (Mickey Turqtuq), 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.

In Songs in Stone John Houston uses childhood memories as a prism through which to see the history of the times and the fascinating and complex development of Inuit Art over the last half century. A panoply of 'northern' and 'southern' voices speak of the economic and social circumstances which lead to the birth of the movement to bring Inuit art to the rest of the world. We have an opportunity to meet carvers and printmakers such as Kenojuak Ahsevak, Osuitok Ipeelie, Iyola Kingwatsiaq, Kananginak Pootoogook, Lukta Qiatsuq, and Mannumie Shaqu - all pivotal figures in the development of Inuit Art. Songs in Stone has won a number of prestigious awards and touched the hearts of many.

The inspiration behind Inuit sculpture. The Inuit approach to the work is to release the image the artist sees imprisoned in the rough stone. Focuses on a legend about the carving of the image of a sea spirit to bring food to a hungry camp.