Arthur’s cabin is dark and filthy. Remembering Warren’s insinuation about child welfare, Birdie knows that she must “live by the old rules” and sets to removing the boards from the windows and cleaning the place (103). Arthur has disappeared. As Emaleen helps Birdie clear out the dirt, she notices that it’s “furry.” Since there is no running water, Birdie and Emaleen must haul water from the creek. Birdie takes her gun and sees a fresh bear track when they reach the water. She teaches Emaleen to make noise to keep grizzlies away. Arthur emerges from the woods and helps tote the water back to the cabin. Yet, when they return, he falls asleep under the tree without offering to help Birdie. She chops the kindling for the fire to boil water for cleaning. Birdie is fine doing the work by herself, as it makes her feel accomplished and capable of surviving in this place.

Emaleen is tired and hungry, but Birdie is set on finishing the cabin. It’s getting dark once she’s finally finished, and Arthur has disappeared again. As she moves things around, Birdie finds fresh moose bones with flesh still attached. She carries them outside and calls for Arthur. Emaleen is asleep, so Birdie treats herself to a cigarette and whisky, as she only brought a small amount, intending to wean herself off. Satisfied that the cabin is now “tame,” Birdie stares into the night, wondering where Arthur is.

Birdie has trouble sleeping because of mosquitoes. Arthur returns at some point in the night but sleeps on the floor. Birdie gets up before everyone else and makes pancakes with the supplies she brought. Emaleen wakes Arthur up, but he barely eats. He leaves the cabin without saying much, even when Birdie asks about the moose bones. Arthur directs Birdie to the cache that his “second mother” created, and she finds many useful supplies, including mosquito netting. While Birdie works to cover the windows with the netting, Emaleen takes a leftover pancake outside to feed to the squirrels. Emaleen returns crying, saying that Arthur is angry with her for looking into a hole outside. She’s worried that he no longer likes her and wants them to leave. Birdie assures her that Arthur is just keeping her safe and that she should listen to his rules.

Emaleen is outside pretending to bake a wedding cake using rocks and flowers. She loves exploring and playing outside all day because she likes playing make-believe when no one is here to see it and embarrass her. Birdie has given her boundaries, such as staying close to the cabin, not climbing into the cache, and not climbing on the shed shelves; otherwise, Emaleen is free to do as she pleases. She does get bored sometimes and wishes that she had a friend.

Emaleen finds a knothole in the shed wall that gives her a clear view into the woods and pretends that it’s a spyglass on a pirate ship. Birdie helps fashion her an eye patch and sword from a cloth and wooden spoon, and Emaleen returns to the shed. She sees a brown bear standing on its hind legs through the hole. The bear sheds its skin, and the scene reminds Emaleen of when she saw a goat being born. She describes it as being “[l]ike a bear [i]s giving birth to a man” (123). When the man emerges, she realizes that it’s Arthur. He carefully folds the skin and buries it in the hole, the one he scolded Emaleen for looking at. Emaleen thinks about the difference between “good” and “bad” secrets and struggles to identify which one this is. She knows that Arthur isn’t dangerous but that bears sometimes are. She doesn’t want to make the wrong choice like she did on the day she ventured into the woods alone.

Warren feels that he should return to the mountain to ensure Emaleen’s safety. He is sad and lonely and misses Carol. He falls asleep, remembering his and Carol’s early years together as they raised their daughters, Theresa and Wendy. They had plans to travel after retirement, but Carol enjoyed spending time at the cabin. The next day, Warren flies to the cabin, and as he’s landing, he sees Arthur, Birdie, and Emaleen hiking happily up the mountain. After landing, Warren walks to the cabin and is astounded at its transformation from a filthy shack into a clean, homey space. He waits for them on the porch, and seeing the familiar blue rope tied to it sparks his memory.

After the girls left home, Warren and Carol spent more time in the cabin so that Warren could hunt moose. While packing the meat from his latest hunt, Warren heard a child crying for its mother one day. He found a toddler boy covered in an animal pelt. He scooped it up just as the bear charged. He shot his gun, which scared the bear away long enough for him to return to the cabin. Carol was shocked but immediately began caring for the baby, who bit and screamed. She couldn’t remove the animal pelt since it was adhered to his skin. The mother bear stalked the cabin, and Warren feared that he would have to shoot it.

Back in town, Warren reported that he had found a child. At first, they thought the baby might belong to Althea, a woman who lived alone in the woods and who they thought was pregnant. When they visited Althea, they saw no signs that she had given birth or had been raising a child. The mystery remained of how the child could have survived alone in the woods for so long. The baby refused to eat, and after many doctor visits in Anchorage, it was concluded that Arthur had developmental delays and that he should be put in a psychiatric hospital. Carol refused, and they reordered their life to care for him at home.

In the present, Arthur and the others still haven’t returned, and it’s getting dark. Warren cuts the rope and takes it with him before leaving.

Birdie dozes on the porch, and Emaleen complains about the heat. She asks for ice cream, but Birdie reminds her that they don’t have a freezer. Arthur says that they are hiking to the mountain she had pointed to on the day they sat at the lodge picnic table. Birdie loads her backpack, but when she grabs her gun, Arthur says that she doesn’t need it. He moves fast and efficiently, and Emaleen and Birdie struggle to keep up. Emaleen is hot and sickly, and Arthur carries her on his shoulders effortlessly.

The landscape changes dramatically, and they reach a marshy bog. Arthur expertly navigates it, but Birdie hesitates, remembering stories that her Grandpa Jo told her about horses sinking into the swamp muck and dying. She leaps through the bog quickly to keep from sinking and reaches the other side safely. She’s hot and muddy and removes her shirt while catching up to Arthur and Emaleen. They are following a trail that Arthur says all the animals made. Finally, they reach the top, and Birdie can see the roof of the lodge and the Wolverine River. She feels a strange sense of continuity, knowing that she once glimpsed this place from far away. There’s snow on the peak, and she rests in the coolness, watching Emaleen play in the snow. Birdie knows that “this [i]s the life she had dreamed for them” (145).

Birdie loses track of the traditional way of marking time on a calendar and instead begins moving with natural rhythms. She grows stronger from the physical labor required to live in the cabin and enjoys the freedom of being beholden to no one but Emaleen and herself. Still, sometimes, she misses seeing other people and the comforts of modern living. Arthur leaves most nights, but when he stays, they lie together, and she tells him about her childhood. When Birdie asks him about his first mother, Arthur says that it’s difficult to explain but that when he is out in nature, he can feel and smell her. When she asks what happened to his family, Arthur walks away without saying anything.

Birdie presses Arthur to tell her where he goes at night, but he implores her to “let [him] be” (149). Warren then arrives for one of his regular visits. Emaleen is excited because he always brings treats from Della. They eat dinner together, and Birdie notices how little Arthur eats, although Warren doesn’t seem to notice. Before Warren leaves, Birdie gives him a list of supplies they need and money. Later, she tries to speak with Arthur about preparing for the coming winter, but he won’t respond. When he walks out, she follows him, and for the first time, Arthur turns on her in anger, demanding that she leave him alone. Birdie angrily returns to the cabin and finishes the last of her whisky.

When Arthur is there, he and Birdie go outside to have sex. Afterward, Birdie asks him if he wants them to leave. Arthur insists that he wants her and Emaleen to stay. He asks if she is lonely when he is gone, and Birdie explains that she is never lonely because Emaleen is there and is like a close friend. Arthur can’t understand what it’s like to be her since he comes and goes as he pleases. Birdie can’t do this because she must always think of Emaleen first. Arthur falls asleep while she is talking, and she goes inside alone.

Arthur awakens Birdie and tells her that today is the day she can go wherever she wants. He will care for Emaleen and promises not to leave. Birdie hastily gets dressed, gets her pack and gun, and uses binoculars, which Warren brought them, to scout her destination. Arthur knows where she is pointing to and says that it will take her a day or more to hike there and back. Birdie sets off before Emaleen wakes up and before she has a chance to rethink leaving.

Birdie relishes the solitude of the hike, yet each time she sees something new, she thinks about Emaleen and how she would react. Despite being alone, Birdie finds it difficult to separate herself from her child. However, being out in nature invigorates her and helps her reconnect to her body. She spots a herd of caribou, and as she moves higher, she finds a bear trail. Passing through stone cliffs that dwarf her, Birdie finds a “fairy ring,” or a circle of mushrooms. She remembers what Grandma Jo said about how disturbing a fairy ring brings bad luck. Birdie sits in the middle of the ring to have her lunch.

Emaleen becomes frightened when she wakes up and realizes that her mother isn’t there. The night before, she heard what she thought was her mother crying outside, but she was not allowed to get out of bed, so she didn’t spy. Emaleen is worried that a bear ate her mother, but Arthur says that Birdie has gone hiking and that he’s staying with her. Emaleen cries and wonders why her mother left her, but Arthur assures her that sometimes people need to be alone. Emaleen doesn’t understand this because she doesn’t like being alone. Arthur says that he misses his first mother and says, “I still see her and I want to be with her” (166). Arthur makes her a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast.

Emaleen waits all day for her mother to return, but she doesn’t return before dark. Emaleen gathers kindling for the fire and asks Arthur to help light it, but they aren’t successful. While she eats another peanut butter sandwich for dinner, she thinks about Arthur and the bear’s skin. She says that bears can eat peanut butter sandwiches, so they don’t eat people. Arthur angrily tells her not to worry about what bears eat. At bedtime, Emaleen can’t sleep, nor can Arthur, so she offers to tell him a story.

Birdie finds wild blueberries and loses track of time, filling her canteen. She inhales the scent of the mountains and realizes that this is what draws Arthur here. She rubs moss and tundra over her skin, hoping that it will make him want to stay with her and not leave. It’s getting close to nighttime, and Birdie doesn’t want Emaleen to go to bed without her home. Birdie runs into a boulder field from a landslide when she tries to take a shortcut home. She scrambles over the rocks, but it becomes too treacherous in the dark. It’s raining, and Birdie is freezing, so she hunkers down for the night.

Birdie resumes her trek home the following day, and as she approaches their camp, she thinks she hears Warren’s airplane. The cabin is empty, but Arthur left a note explaining that he took Emaleen swimming in the beaver pond. Warren has left supplies. Birdie changes into dry clothes, eats, drinks, and tries to rest, but she wants to see Emaleen. Birdie finds them gleefully swimming at the beaver pond, and they are both happy to see her return. Arthur is teaching Emaleen to swim. At the cabin, Arthur sniffs Birdie and can’t keep his hands off her. As soon as Emaleen falls asleep, he pulls Birdie outside, and they have sex. Afterward, he says, “I am loving you” (180), and Birdie says that she loves him too.