Lawyer and MP Sir Edward Leithen is given a year to live. Fearing he will die unfulfilled, he devotes his last months to seeking out and restoring to health Galliard, a young Canadian banker. Galliard is in remotest Canada searching for the River of the Sick Heart. Braving a severe Arctic winter, Leithen finds Galliard and feels his own health returning. The North has healed both men, but only one will return to civilization.