Duncan's entire world is the orphanage where he lives, a solitary outpost in the snowy expanse of northern Minnesota. Aged ten, he cannot remember his life to this point, but he has stories that he recites like prayers: the story of how his mother brought him here during the worst blizzard of the century; the story of how God spoke to him at his birth and gave him a special purpose. Duncan is sure that his mother is dead until the day she turns up to claim him.