We open on a ship in a storm. Pompous Navy doctor, Robert Goodsir, is searching for the lost Franklin expedition, with which his brother served. His ship is trapped in ice and he is sent on ahead. However, he is to be paired with John Rae, a disgraced explorer hated by the British establishment because he trusted Inuit testimony claiming the Franklin men degenerated into cannibalism. Goodsir reluctantly agrees to the mission. And Rae reluctantly agrees to be his guide.
The two men set off into the forests of Canada’s north, heading for the Arctic ice sheet. Goodsir is insulted by Rae’s brutish ways, love of the Inuit and lack of faith in British values. After an exhausting and bad-tempered march, the two men arrive at a remote fur-hunting outpost. They collect their letters where Rae finds he has been refused any prize money for finding the fate of the Franklin men. Furious, he drinks heavily and refuses to carry on with the mission. Goodsir is enraged. A brief fight ensues and Goodsir marches into the ice alone.
Rae goes after him, insisting on bringing him home. However, the harsh conditions slow their journey and force them to cooperate. They save each other’s lives after a polar bear attack and a tender intimacy begins to emerge between them. An Inuit woman, Tookoo, appears at their camp and gives them a rough location of the missing expedition.
Continuing the journey, they finally find evidence of the Franklin men when stumbling across some bodies in an abandoned igloo. Soon after, the find the ship and make a disturbing discovery. A single Franklin man has managed to survive alone and has lost his mind. Hoping to have rescued his brother, Goodsir falls into a depressive fug. Rae however tends paternally for the man who they christen Abel. They take Abel back south with them, though he cannot trust them and continually runs away.
Whilst going after Abel, Goodsir falls down a crevasse with most of their supplies and breaks his foot. Rae rescues Goodsir and makes camp. Goodsir however insists that Rae has to press on with Abel. Rae grudgingly agrees.
Rae departs the next day after a tender farewell where he kisses Goodsir gently on the lips. Weeks pass and Goodsir begins to run out of food, falling into a delirious fever. When he wakes, he realises someone has been feeding him. It is Abel, who has killed and cannibalised Rae.
Terrified at Abel’s return (and realising he’s next on the menu), Goodsir escapes the igloo and stumbles across Rae’s corpse. However, Abel is following him. The men fight to the death. On the verge of being killed, Goodsir only just survives when Abel falls through the ice to his death.
Goodsir bears the body of his dear friend south. Collapsing from exhaustion, he digs John Rae a grave and lies alongside him. Tookoo, the Inuit woman, appears over the crest of the grave. Goodsir reaches out his hand.
