Finally Anne Hobbs arrived in Chicken, Alaska. When she arrived everyone was kind to her. The schoolhouse she was to teach in had her living quarters as one half of the building.
(The picture is the actual schoolhouse)When Anne got there, however, the place wasn't ready; there was no mattress, chairs, stove, etc. So one of the ladies who showed her her home made an announcement to the people that Anne needed some things, and everyone was so kind that they brought pretty much everything she needed. The next morning a small Eskimo woman and her half-Eskimo son, who was about Anne's age, cam to say welcome to her, and it was agreed upon that the lady's son, Fred, would help clean up the schoolroom, for that too was in need of some fixing up. So the next few days Fred helped fix up the schoolhouse and paint the schoolroom and during that time he became friends with Anne. 
Then it was the first day of school. Anne was nervous at first, but after the day had gone by and Fred came over to ask her how it went, she said she was feeling optimistic about it.
Shortly after school began, the first problem arose. An Indian lady, Rebekah, with her 5, almost 6-year old half-Inidan daughter(the father being white) came to the school on day asking if her daughter, Lily could attend school, and she with her because Lily was afraid to be by herself. Anne said this was fine. But after the first day they came the three adults who were on the school board requested a meeting, and at the meeting they didn't like the idea of the indian lady and Lily coming to school, and all voted them out. Sadly, the next day, Anne had to tell the lady that she and Lily couldn't come to school. She understood. The next day, Rebekah's husband, Jake, came in, a mad look on his face. He asked Anne, and she said she had no objections to Rebekah and Lily attending school, so he went next door to Mr. Vaughn's house. Mr. Vaughn was the person who was most strongly objected to their coming to school. Anne and the whole class heard as Jake cussed and swore at Mr. Vaughn. Then Jake returned, calmly saying that Rebekah and Lily could attend school.Then the school worked on a project to make a large map of chicken. And all was going well, until Chuck came to school. It was Chuck who couldn't speak very well and called her Tisha instead of Teacher. Anne liked him, but being half-Indian the other kids didn't take to him very well, and were mean to him. The day after that, half the class didn't show up because their parents hadn't allowed them to go to school because of this. And there was another school board meeting, again with the people not very happy.
They didn't want Chuck to go to school, but Anne finally gathered some courage and made the argument that they don't have enough enrollment, which is ten students, without Chuck. She said she would have to leave if they couldn't go to school. They were infuriated, but she got her way.
School continued, and Anne went to Fred's house for dinner and met his family, and they had a good time.
Pretty soon the people could tell that Anne liked Fred, and they didn't like it, since Fred was half Eskimo. Even Fred's mother, who worried about the reputation of her family, asked Anne not to like him, but Anne couldn't agree to that.Then a visitor came, Cabaret Jackson, a man who had proposed to Anne at the dance in Eagle, but whom Anne had rejected. There was a dance in Chicken, then a dinner, which Anne got to have with Fred. The people had gotten Cab all riled up and mad about Fred, telling him rumors and more. And what's more, he was drunk. So when Fred and Anne tried to leave, he wouldn't let them, and he punched, Fred, but Fred didn't fight back and then Fred took Anne to her home.
After she came back to Chicken she wrote a letter to Fred saying that he could come back, and they could just act as friends, and wouldn't have to see each other. It was sad. But a few weeks later Fred came back, but as she promised, Anned didn't go to see him.
Then something horrible happened. Chuck and Ethel's mother died. Anne took the children, and then asked their father if she could adopt them. He said it was fine, he didn't care, but he warned her that she'd be having a lot of trouble and a lot of people will be very angry with her. And so it was. People were infuriated. They all expected Anne to return them to the Indian village, but shed didn't, she kept them.
When Nancy's mother found out about this, she ordered that Nancy be sent home. So Nancy, who was now like a sister to Anne, went home.
One day after school, as Anne was giving something to someone in the store, she heard Cab, who had come back, run off with his sled, with Chuck and Ethel in it. She tried to stop him, but it was to late. Anne was crushed; she didn't know what to do. Then she got an idea. She ran to Fred's house and told him about it, and asked if he would take his sled and go with her to catch Cab, because Maggie, one of the ladies in the settlement, told her that Cab will take the children to the Indian village where he'll probably tell the people that if they let anyone have the children(meaning Anne), they'll be sure to stop getting supplies. So it was urgent that Nancy catch Cab before he got there. Fred agreed to it and before they left, they stopped at Maggie's roadhouse and Maggie asked Fred to be on the lookout for her daughter and her her daughter's husband and their child, who had left recently but Maggie hadn't gotten word from them and was worried. So then Anne and Fred left with a week's provision of food.
On and on they went with the chase until, finally, they caught Cab, and after Fred, who didn't want to fight, beat up Cab, they were friendly and Anne got to keep Chuck and Ethel. They started heading back, but a horrible snowstorm came upon them, and as they were searching for a particular cabin, they found a horrifying sight. 
In a hole through some ice, they saw Jeannette, Maggie's daughter and her husband. Sadly, as Jeanette's husband tried to get out he had frozen to death, but Jeanette and her baby were alive. They rescued Jeanette, who's foot and frozen solid, and Fred left to take her by sled to the nearest hospital, which was a few days away while Anne, Chuck, Ethel, and Jeanette's baby stayed in the empty cabin they had finally found. After a few days, Mr. Strong, who had been left word that Anne was there, came and took Anne and everyone back to Chicken, where Maggie was relieved that Jeanette and the baby were alive, but very worried for Jeannette. Then they got news that Jeanette will be OK, and from then on people weren't as mean to Anne.
Then the end of the school year came, and Nancy came back to take the 8th grade examination. She passed, and there was a huge going away party for Anne since she was leaving. Everyone was grateful for Anne that she had taught, and now there wasn't going to be a school there for not enough enrollment. Anne and Fred go outside by themselves, where they promised to get married someday when Fred has enough money.
I ends with her writing about 40-45 years later(1975), saying that ten years later than that Anne and Fred had gotten married, and they had adopted several more children. She says that, "I know that the sun would never have shone as brightly for me, nor children's smiles seemed so lovely, had I spent those years without Fred." 
