synopsis

David never knew his Father. What he does know, is his job. As much as he tries to be a good father to his teenage daughter, Jenna, he feels lost and uncertain spending time with her as she grows into a young woman. Every summer Jenna goes up to northern Minnesota on a fly fishing trip with her grandpa, David’s father-in-law. David feels lost up there too. But he agrees to go for once and set out into the deep north woods. 

As they hike inland for a better fishing spot, they cross an old-rope bridge that falls as they cross. Jenna’s arm is broken. Suddenly, they have much greater cares than what type of bait to use fishing. The goal now is to get Jenna out of the woods safely, but the bridge was the only way across the canyon for 20 miles, so now, stuck on the other side than the plane, they have to hike out to to a road 15 miles east of the river where they can hitchhike to a town with a hospital.

They set up camp for the first of two nights. That evening, both Jenna and Pops have questions about David’s father. As David gets more agitated, Pops starts expressing his disappointment in some of David’s choices as a father. Things get heated, and David isolates himself in his tent. Pops, guilty for his words to David, can’t sleep. In the middle of the night, he gets up to stoke the coals of the fire, and has a heart attack. He cries out in pain just before losing consciousness, which wakes the other two, who run to his rescue, but can’t wake him up. He’s still breathing, but can’t regain consciousness.

Jenna’s arm still hurts like hell, but now she and her dad have to get Pops out of the woods alive. They use his hammock and a couple long sticks to rig up a palanquin of sorts that keeps the pressure off Jenna’s arm. They hike all day but are still too far away without sleeping another night in the woods. Can Pops survive the night and get safely to the Gunflint Trail?