When an American ship comes to search for Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary in 1901, Aqariusaq finds herself caught between her own Inuit community and her white friends and acquaintances, about both of which she cares greatly. When Aqariusaq was 10 years old, she spent a year in Washington DC with Peary's wife (Mitti Peary) and daughter (Marie). Dubbed "Billy Bah" by the little Marie, she learned to speak English reasonably well and learned about many things in American culture which were foreign or unknown in her homeland.
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Back in her home village of Itta, people did not always believe her stories, so she learned to speak little and treasure privately the things she had brought back. At the age of 13, she married a young man named Angulluk (as was not unusual among her people for girls her age) and watched as her parents left for the United States, never to return. She sometimes speaks to them, and especially begs them to reincarnate into her own future children. But she continues not to become pregnant.
Peary and his men, meanwhile, come in and out of the Arctic, passing the village frequently and trading with the Inuit. At the Inuits' request, they take ten of them across the straight to Greenland, including Aqariusaq, Angulluk, Peary's Inuit mistress (Ally), her husband, Ally's son by Peary (Sammy), and an orphan nicknamed “Bag of Bones.” In Greenland, the Inuit hunt and the white sailors search for Peary. Angulluk “lends” Aqariusaq to a white sailor named Duncan in return for hunting supplies. Aqariusaq begins to like him – she finds herself in love with two men.
On shore, she meets Navanara, an older Inuit woman, who advises her to avoid the qallunaat (white men) as much as possible. Aqariusaq does not do so. She and her friend Ally sew winter clothes for Mitti Peary and Marie, and Mitti Peary finds out due to Ally's openness that Sammy was fathered by her husband. She is angry and jealous.
Angulluk, who has been helping search for Peary in addition to hunting, has nonetheless refused to go into areas that are too dangerous. Aqariusaq worries for him; Mitti Peary thinks he isn't trying hard enough. Finally, they organize to have Angulluk and Duncan go together. Aqariusaq puts her foot down and insists on coming. It is awkward in some ways, but they make it through the mountains. When Aqariusaq's clothes are frozen after a fall through a crack in the ice into water, both men work together to keep her as warm as possible. They bring her to Peary's fort, which is by then closer than the ship and the Inuit village in Greenland, and they find Peary there. They stay for some time while Aqariusaq recovers, and there, Aqariusaq discovers what happened to her family after they died: They were put on display at a museum (not Peary's doing). They were taken down when visitors, like Aqariusaq upon hearing it, are horrified by the nature of the exhibit.
The four return to the ship, where Peary is able to spend some much-needed time with his crew, with his family, and alone with his wife. Navarana dies, but not before sharing a vision in which Aqariusaq is with her people and with the whites both, living in both “worlds” while in the Arctic. Aqariusaq doesn't understand how it is possible. Duncan still likes Aqariusaq a lot, and wants her to divorce Angulluk and return to the United States with him. Although she still loves him and finds him gentler than her husband, Aqariusaq now knows with certainty that she belongs with her people, not in the United States. When Peary offers to take her on as his primary seamstress on his next mission north, Angulluk objects, as he wants her with him when they return to Itta, not with Peary's mission.
Aqariusaq takes the trip back to think about it, as she has already been contemplating divorce with Angulluk. Though she has wanted children for her parents' spirits to reincarnate into, she realizes she is fortunate not to have any under the circumstances. She asks Angulluk not to lend her to white men anymore, and he refuses to promise, so she goes forward with divorcing him – a comparatively simple procedure in Inuit society, especially compared to divorce today. In Itta, she visits her sisters, who has recently given birth to twins – a boy and a girl. Aqariusaq receives the honor of naming them after their parents, making them vessels for their parents' spirits to return to the world of the living. She also agrees to go on Peary's trip as lead seamstress. She is free, with her people, and with the whites – between two worlds, but confident and where she needs to be, and no longer torn between the two.
Best part of story, including ending:
By the end of the book, Aqariusaq / "Billy Bah" is able to balance her experiences in two cultures and languages and use them to build her own independent and free life.
Best scene in story:
When Aqariusaq meets her sister's twin babies, she has the honor of naming the two. Even though she has not had her own child, the fundamental issue that caused her to want children before is solved: Her parents can reincarnate into her new niece and nephew.
Opinion about the main character:
She is independent and appreciates her freedom, but also cares about both her own people and the Americans than come to visit. She is more of both worlds and understands both worlds than anyone else among her people, which is difficult when dealing with two groups that don't fully understand one another.
