A bioengineering company releases a new product: Mungoes, human beings who have been stripped of all memories, feelings, and free will. They are stoic, docile, perfect for menial labor. The lead engineer, however, has bigger ideas for them, and begins secretly implanting them with artificial memories and emotions—and even the ability to love.

Quebec Bill Bohomme is a hardy schemer and dreamer, who, desperate to raise money to preserve his endangered herd through the rapidly approaching winter, resorts to whiskey-smuggling, a traditional family occupation. Quebec Bill takes his son, Wild Bill, on the journey. Also Henry Coville, an inscrutable whiskey smuggler, and Rat Kinneson, Quebec Bill's perpetually disconsolate ex-con hired man. Together, they cross the border into vast reaches of Canadian wilderness for an unforgettable four days "full of terror, full of wonder."