Link Keller was sure his summer in the Michigan wilderness was going to be the loneliest, dullest time of his life. he couldn’t wait to get back to New Jersey, back to baseball and TV and the comforting glare of street lights in the night. His uncle Albert had lent him a set of expensive cameras on the condition that Link bring back some pictures of sandhill cranes.
That would be his way out, Link reassured himself. He’d stay just long enough to get the pictures. Then nothing could keep him there.
But deep in the woods Link begins to discover that to be still and silent is not necessarily to be bored. Through his aunt Harriet and an Indian named Charley Horse he learns that friendship transcends the distinctions of age, race, and background. Slowly he comes to know the frightening power, the drama, the fragile beauty of nature. And in doing so, he comes to know himself.