In 1918, Roald Amundsen, en route to the North Pole, arrives off the coast of Chukotka. In the polar fog, the outlines of a small settlement emerge. Who are the inhabitants, and how will they receive the expedition? The shared winter transforms both the researchers and the locals. Kagot, the shaman, begins to read, to calculate, to open the machines; his insatiable thirst for knowledge threatens to derail him. Amundsen finds in Kagot a brother with whom he shares the spirit of exploration—but also a deep sense of guilt. Juri Rytchëu not only knows Amundsen's diaries but also the traditions of his ancestors about the strange outsiders. From an episode in the history of science, he creates a captivating epic about the encounter of two civilizations.