As part of his thirteenth birthday Jimmy Benge is spending a week ice fishing with his friend, Ryan, in northern Minnesota at his Cherokee family's lakeside home; one day they get permission to go out further on the lake to try for Northern pike, and Jimmy catches a beauty--but a sudden snow squall turns the situation dangerous and as the boys pack up to make their way back, Uncle Kenny's ATV flips over and he is injured, and it is up to the boys have to get everybody home safely.