Out in the wilds, an aged man tells his grandchildren a tale of his own youth. After his mother dies, his usually-absent father, whom he barely knows, takes him into these same wilds to hunt for a grizzly. They find a mother bear with two cubs. The hunters capture the cubs, but the grizzly captures the lad. Somehow, boy and bear bond and trek across the forest with dad and a First Nations friend on their trail. After a while, the boy figures out where he and his new mother are going: toward her cubs. Rifles, dogs, hunters, bear, cubs, father, and son are headed for a rendezvous.