A day in the life of
Noah Piugattuk in 1961 is dramatized. He belongs to a small nomadic tribe of Inuk living in Kapuivik on the northern end of Baffin Island. He and the tribe happily still live largely on traditional subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering, and while he does barter for "white man" goods such as tea and sugar at the settlement, he and his family do get monthly child allowance payments from the Canadian government, money which he also uses to pay for such items, although he has little concept of money in general. This day, he and some members of his tribe, including his daughter, decide to go to the settlement via their usual transportation of dog sled to stock up on some of those white man goods, they hunting along the way if they come across anything. Instead, they encounter another dog sled transporting a white man - who they will refer to as "Boss" - and another Inuk, who acts as his translator. Noah is happy enough to stop and share some tea with these two men, not knowing what the white man would be doing there. While Boss frames he wanting to talk to Noah as a question and in wanting to be of help, it quickly turns to more of a demand and threat. Noah would be unaware at the time of how fateful a meeting this would be in shaping his and his family's life no matter what he decides to do.
—Huggo