A wryly humorous and inspirational story about a proud Alaska Native family struggling to survive in two worlds. Sam and Louise Harper and their ten children make a soul-grinding transition into a modern white-dominated society where they face bigotry, poverty, and illness.

Born in Sitka, Alaska, of Koyukon Athabascan and French-Dutch descent, Jan Harper-Haines began gathering stories about her Athabascan mother and grandmother in 1990. The author earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Alaska, where her mother, Flora Jane Harper, was the first Native graduate in 1935. She lives in the San Francisco area.