Since long ago, the wolf goddess Horo has honored a contract to bless the rural village of Pasroe with fertile harvests; and in return she has been celebrated and worshipped by the villagers. But as mankind advances, the people have begun to take command of nature for themselves and have made their own god to worship. Horo finds that she is paid little more than lip service, if not outright mocked; and considering the contract annulled, she takes human form and enlists the aid of a passing merchant, Lawrence, to return to her home in the snowy forests to the north. As they journey together, Lawrence finds that he has plenty to learn from this capricious god, and she from him as well.