A 13 year-old boy crashlands, alone in the Canadian wilderness. All that stands between living and dying is a hatchet. Somehow he must learn to use this one tool to fend off starvation, wild animals and many other hazards.
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given to him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce.
The adventures of an unusual dog, part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, that is forcibly taken to the Klondike gold fields where he eventually becomes the leader of a wolf pack.
He was rescued at the end of the summer. Brian's Winterbegins where Hatchet might have ended: Brian is not rescued, but must build on his survival skills to face his deadliest enemy--a northern winter. "From the Hardcover edition.