In 1890s Canada, Sandy Shaw is a prospector who arrives in a small snow-covered town with his young son Rick, and their wolf-dog Whisky to claim a recently vacated cabin on Eagle's Nest mountain to look for gold. Joining them is an grizzled and eccentric fur trapper and part-time prospector, named Dollar, who shacks up with them and to aid them when a local business man, named Barney Taft, tries to force them to leave the area so he can claim any discovered gold for himself and his gang.