This is a story about the fur trade and First Nations, and the development of northern Canada, seen and experienced not only through Leonard Flett’s eyes, but also through the eyes of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

The lives of indigenous people in remote areas of northern Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in the 1960s and 1970s are examined in detail. Flett’s successful career with both the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company provides an insight into the dying days of the fur trade and the rise of a new retail business tailored to First Nations.