It's the beginning of the 1950s and Tivii, an Inuit hunter, is flown to a Quebec sanatorium to be treated for tuberculosis. Weak, unable to communicate or to understand others, and far from his loved ones, Tivii decides to give up and to give in to death. His nurse, Carole, however, understanding Tivii's desolation, refuses to let him slip away and arranges for a young Inuit named Kaki, to be transferred to his sanatorium. Kaki knows white society well and helps Tivii decode his situation. Tivii's pride and will to live are further helped by his teaching Kaki about the ways of their land and of the Inuit people.