The setting for this book is a Norse colony in Greenland, founded by the Vikings but abandoned by Norway several centuries later. All that remains today are graves and empty, crumbling houses and churches. Haugaard imagines the last years of the colony and a valiant fifteen-year-old boy named Leif who hopes to rally the colonists in a fight for their survival.

Leif sees all too well their desperate situation. They live in an unwelcoming land: grassy valleys near the fjords quickly give way to rocky hills, glaciers, and Greenland's icy interior. Ever-harsher winters have killed off their horses and cattle. The skills needed to forge iron have been forgotten, so they are unable to repair the sickles they need to continue farming; the remaining colonists will soon face starvation. Meanwhile, Leif's father and the other adults fantasize about a ship arriving from Norway to save them.

Leif dreams instead of having the few hundred colonists work together to survive. Perhaps they could learn to hunt seals, like the natives of Greenland. Maybe they could repair the one remaining boat and attempt to reach Iceland to summon help. Leif has been waiting in vain for his father or his uncle, the leader of the colony, to take action.

But then a family from up in the hills moves into the settlement. One son, fifteen-year-old Egil, quickly manipulates and intimidates Leif's uncle into letting him take over as leader of the colony. Leif realizes he must stand up to Egil because no one else will. Soon Leif and Egil are rivals--who will be the new leader? Their rivalry escalates into a dramatic showdown.