A woman in a canoe takes the reader on a journey down the Hudson River, from its source, a lake in the Adirondack Mountains, to the point where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean at New York City. Includes a note on the history of the Hudson River.

Houndsley likes canoeing and his friend Catina likes bicycling, but each has to help the other learn to enjoy these activities in order to do them together.

When sickness decimates his fishing camp, an orphan named Leif flees north in a cedar canoe, journeying along a brutal but beautiful coastline.