In the seventeenth century two penniless young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in New France. Bound to a feudal lord, for three years in exchange for land, they become wood-cutters – barkskins. René suffers extraordinary hardship and is forced to marry a Mi'kmaw woman. But Duquet, crafty and ruthless, runs away and becomes a fur trader. Proulx tells the stories of the descendants of Sel and Duquet over three hundred years – their travels overseas, pestilence, Indian attacks and cultural annihilation.