Conley Conway, a newly assigned park ranger in Denali National Par in Alaska, was on his rounds, searching for illegal traplines in the backcountry of Denali when he made a grisly discovery. He had been following two traplines for some distance, but they were empty of game. However, once he started following the third line, he found three traps that had been sprung. One held a large sow and to other two each held a small bear cub. The traps had been deliberately set at the mouth of a bear den. The sow and one of the cubs was dead. At first Conley thought the second cub was dead, too, but it was still alive. Weak and trembling, it just stared at Conley, not enough fight left to resist when the man reached for him. Conley immediately felt a bond with the cub and was determined not to let it die. After all, both he and the bear had been orphaned by some very bad people. He wanted to do all he could to rid the park of the illegal trappers, and somehow, he felt Trembles shared his desires in that matter. As Conley raised the bear, doing his best to keep him wild, the two bonded into a very unusual friendship One which astonished the people in the small town near Conley's ranch. The townspeople had the shock of their lives when Trembles, a bear they knew as Crooked Toes, came into town looking for Conley. Can Trembles save his human friend, or will Civilization be the end of the bear?