AGVIQ is the totem of the "Real People," the Inupiaq, who endured the Arctic territories for 7,000 years--until the modern world destroyed the ancient ways. But then the modern world itself was destroyed. Among others, a white archeologist named Claudia has survived. The People need her, to teach what has been taken; she needs them, to live. And together, they must face the ice and confront the ancestors' greatest challenge . . .