Set against the austere landscape of northern Labrador, Windflower is the poignant story of Elsa Kumachuk, a young Inuit woman torn between two worlds by the birth of her blond-haired, blue-eyed son. Unacknowledged by his father, an American GI, the child is welcomed into the Inuit community with astonishment and delight. Elsa, however, must come to terms with the conflicting values implied by her son's dual heritage.

Gabrielle Roy's last novel, Windflower is both a moving account of one woman's tragic dilemma and a sensitive portrait of a society in transition.