A 19th-century English fur trader, his Cree wife, and Metis guide are harrowingly pursued by an unseen monster on the Athabasca River. Two freshwater biologists in present-day Fort McMurray are investigating water pollution and dead fish, until one becomes obsessed with their discovery of centuries-old skeletons and the other wants to go public with their findings. A young man comes to work in the oil sands where he meets a stripper, but their connection is severed when he returns home after discovering the body of a young man. Meanwhile a young glacier tour guide working at the Athabasca glacier recounts finding a body in ice. And between all the bodies are interwoven vignettes that lead up to a major oil spill, filling out a chilling story of lives lived and lost on rivers and railways.