When Miami dentist Ted Brooks learns that his birth mother has passed away and that he was named in her will, he travels to Alaska to claim his inheritance. Rather than the large chunk of change that many people would expect, Ted instead receives his mother's pack of rowdy sled dogs and her property. Although the dogs seemingly have it in for Ted, he decides to keep the dogs and race them in the local race, the Arctic Challenge, spiting a mountain man who wants the dogs. What follows is a comedy detailing Ted's adventures in learning to run the sled dogs.

High-powered fashion photographer Claire Jameson finds herself stranded in middle America on the way to her dream Christmas-time wedding in Aspen. Unable to get another flight or rent a car, Claire is reduced to begging for a ride. When the rugged former artist turned teacher, Tom Pullman and his 13-year old daughter Hilly kindly offer to take her, none of them realize that their journey is just beginning, and it will leave all of them in a very different place than where they began.