Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart from the weight of the work and the loneliness. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning, it is gone - but they find a young, blonde-haired girl who calls herself Faina, and seems to be a child of the woods ...