To make his own birch bark canoe Ray working with Pinock Smith, an Algonquin Indian canoe builder, uses only traditional tools and knowledge descended from the master builders of the past.
Ray travels by canoe through the Canadian wilderness along a river that was once an arterial route for the fur trade, and encounters moose and beaver on the way.
Mears takes a journey into America's past as he travels in the footsteps of Jim Bridger, one of the mountain men who opened up the route to the Pacific Coast of America. Ray makes a bull boat using willow and buffalo skin and spends time with the Shoshone.
One country where the ancient skills of bushcraft are alive and well and in daily use is Sweden. Mears sees how pine tar is made and used on traditional skis before spending time with the Sami people in the north where he takes a dog sled journey into the snowy wastes.
Mears shows the viewer how bushcraft brings a new perspective on the countryside and its changing seasons. He points out the foods and plants that are available, from pig nuts to lime leaves. He observes wild badgers and deer and explains his interest in sleeping outdoors whenever he can.
