Survival is uppermost in the minds of the medieval Norse, living on the edge of the world, in the ice and snow of Greenland in the early fifteenth century. Those who survive flee for other lands. Over six hundred years later global warming has resulted in Greenland being a more habitable place, attracting people from other lands. However, global warming brings with it new unforeseen challenges.
After successfully living in Greenland for over four hundred years, the Norse, by the early fifteenth century had disappeared. Faced with an increasingly inhospitable climate, in the form of the little ice age, and cut off from the land of their ancestors, Norway, many perish from starvation and disease. However, some of these hardy descendants of the Vikings, escape to Iceland, Norway, and for the lucky few, North America. In the year 1414, some arrive on the shores of North America, to stay; over six hundred years later, in the year 2035, a descendant of these Norse emigrates from Canada to Greenland to seek a better life due to a disintegrating society in Canada because of global warming.
It is 1421 in Greenland and Thorstein Edmundrsson, unwavering in his Christian faith and loyalty to his family, reflects on his life as he lies on the floor of the church, dying from starvation. He is the last surviving member of the Norse community of Brattahlid in Greenland, having foregone the opportunity, seven years previously, to join a group of fellow Norse who sailed to North America to escape the increasingly inhospitable climate in Greenland. In his dying hours Thorstein dreams of key periods in his life, and through these dreams we learn of the powerful family bonds, central to Thorstein's character, but which result in him making the ultimate sacrifice. We also learn about the life and demise of the Norse in Greenland.
Over six hundred years later, in 2035, ambitious investment tycoon, Corrin Boyce, a descendant of one of the Norse who settled in North America in 1414, emigrates to Greenland. He does so to escape the increasingly challenging physical, societal, and economic conditions in a climate ravaged Canada. With global warming Greenland's climate, now in 2035, is benign. Greenland now offers the ambitious Corrin not only an escape from the social turmoil and depressed economic conditions in Canada, but new investment opportunities in Agriculture and Aquaculture. Also, a chance to reconnect with his distant past! However, in time Corrin is faced with a new set of environmental and personal challenges, which causes him to critically examine his own values.