The boys' mother has arranged a holiday in Finland for herself and the boys while Grainne's mother is visiting. They are going to have a grand adventure. This story is told in alternating chapters as Tom and Johnny become acquainted with sled dogs and their handler and then go off into the wilderness on an exciting dog sled ride to a remote lodge, and Grainne nervously waits for the arrival of her birth mother.

The boys are recruited to help feed and water the dogs, and to help with camp chores. They are having a great time, until their mother disappears. Her lead dog is a rogue who decides to go his own way, and she becomes lost in the cold, snowy, uninhabited forest. The boys decide to abscond with a team of dogs and sled and search for their mother. It's dark, and cold, with deep snow, and the trail is not clear, but their lead dog seems to know where he is going...or does he?

Tween readers can relate to the realistic characters and their emotions as Roddy Doyle tells this dramatic story in sparse, simple language, while keeping the tension high. With the rowdy, rambunctious boys and their adventure in Finland, the frantic search for their mother, and the angst of a teenaged girl meeting the mother who abandoned her, there is something for everyone in this exciting story.