It''s a crisp, snowless October in The Park. The root cellar is full, the cordwood is stacked, the oil drums are filled and there’s a freshly-butchered moose in her cache, but Kate Shugak must leave her cabin and head into the chaos of Anchorage, where the Alaska Federation of Natives’ annual convention is being held. Why? Because board members of the Niniltna Native Association have been dying…board members who just happened to oppose a lucrative new development project. If it’s just a coincidence, perhaps Kate will find nothing, but this is Alaska—politics and profit are constantly at odds with conservation and traditional practices, and anyone looking too closely is likely to discover something unsavory.

It''s a crisp, snowless October in The Park. The root cellar is full, the cordwood is stacked, the oil drums are filled and there’s a freshly-butchered moose in her cache, but Kate Shugak must leave her cabin and head into the chaos of Anchorage, where the Alaska Federation of Natives’ annual convention is being held. Why? Because board members of the Niniltna Native Association have been dying…board members who just happened to oppose a lucrative new development project. If it’s just a coincidence, perhaps Kate will find nothing, but this is Alaska—politics and profit are constantly at odds with conservation and traditional practices, and anyone looking too closely is likely to discover something unsavory.

It''s a crisp, snowless October in The Park. The root cellar is full, the cordwood is stacked, the oil drums are filled and there’s a freshly-butchered moose in her cache, but Kate Shugak must leave her cabin and head into the chaos of Anchorage, where the Alaska Federation of Natives’ annual convention is being held. Why? Because board members of the Niniltna Native Association have been dying…board members who just happened to oppose a lucrative new development project. If it’s just a coincidence, perhaps Kate will find nothing, but this is Alaska—politics and profit are constantly at odds with conservation and traditional practices, and anyone looking too closely is likely to discover something unsavory.