Each part deals with Kapu the black wolf leading his pack, and then his daughter Sweet Fur Amy taking over with her mate Storm Call.

Raw Bones continuously tries to usurp Kapu′s position as alpha male, but Kapu beats him back every time, occasionally with the help of Zing, Aaka, and more recently, Sweet Fur Amy.

Kapu knows Raw Bones did it as an act of defiance, but nonetheless helps his mother and the rest of the pack prepare for the birth.

But since Silver had not eaten enough meat while pregnant, she was not able to produce enough milk, and the two pups, named No Growl and Tiny Whimper, become weak.

But then Julie arrives, hoping to see the pups, and convinces Kapu, Zing, and Silver to allow her to take them home with her so she and her family can nurse them.

Complications arise when Silver begins to grow weak, a rival pack move onto the Avalik territory, and the arrival of a strange white wolf known as Ice Blink.

As Silver is dead, and Raw Bones is showing no paternal instinct for his daughter, Sweet Fur Amy takes it upon herself to raise Uqaq.

The wolves ambush the two, and it is here that Ice Blink succumbs to rabies and bites the alpha female Cloud Berry, passing the disease on to her.

When it comes time for pups to be conceived, Sweet Fur Amy refuses to mate, knowing that the pack would fight and split up if she were to be confined to the den.

It falls to Sweet Fur Amy, Storm Call, Lichen, and Aaka to raise the pups, but they only manage to keep three of the nine alive.

Raw Bones takes the opportunity to fight Sweet Fur Amy while she is bringing food home to the pups one day.

Eventually, Kapu is released from captivity as Julie marries Peter and Sweet Fur Amy and Storm Call become parents to a litter of six pups.

J. D. Biersdorfer of The New York Times wrote, "Jean Craighead George has spent decades observing and recording the life styles of the wild and wolfish, and her love for the subject matter is clearly evident in the smooth assuredness of her narrative.