In 1616, as the last warm days dwindle in the north Atlantic, the men on an English whaling ship prepare to head home. But there is one exception among them: the quiet, headstrong Thomas Cave. Cave has made a bet with the rest of the crew that he can spend a winter on this Arctic island—alone.

His shipmates sail away, the days shorten, and the cold weather moves in. Thomas Cave faces months of darkness, ice, and blizzards with only his rations, shelter, and a journal—a record in case he doesn’t survive to tell his story. But nothing so threatens the sailor as his own mind, haunted by the remembrances of another life and a lost love. From his post at the edge of the known world, Cave sees his own past and begins to reflect on man’s relationship with God and the wilderness.