Armed with his 1899 Appleton's Guidebook to Alaska, Michael Portillo begins his journey amid the snow-capped mountains and ice-cold inlets of the Kenai Peninsula.

The next leg of Michael Portillo's journey begins in Skagway, Alaska, where he learns about writer Jack London, one of the gold prospectors who hiked to the Klondike 100 years ago. He then crosses into Canada on the White Pass and Yukon railway. Along the way he is invited to shake his tail feathers in a grouse dance, heads for the home of the Vancouver Giants, tries his hand at ice hockey and visits the Canadian Motion Picture Park.