Carcajou is the French-Canadian name for the wolverine - a beast with the power of a wolf, the tenacity of a bulldog and, it is said, the soul of Satan. John Banner arrives in the Yukon with a $10,000 price on his head and a plan to lose himself in the arctic wilderness. But his plans change when he acquires the great dog Slaughter; meets Anne Kendal, a woman who's the match of any man; and joins a deadly search for lost gold - a quest that will lead him to a baptism of blood that alters the course of his life and earns him the nickname "Carcajou".