Meet the Kilcher family, who live on a 600-acre homestead in Alaska. With another brutal winter approaching, and bears having killed two of the family's cattle, they are forced to pin all of their hopes of surviving the winter on one hunting trip.

The first storm of the winter is fast approaching so the entire Kilcher homestead must race to finish preparing for the next eight months. Atz Sr. races ahead of the storm to lead a herd of cattle on a dangerous trek across flooded glacial rivers.

The early winter storms have left the entire homestead unprepared. A desperate search for a newborn calf and its mother forces Otto's wife and their youngest son into a night snowstorm while Otto is away building shelter for his herd.

The extended Kilcher family struggle to get through a record-breaking harsh winter. Desperate for food, Atz Lee and Jane venture onto the ice to try fishing. Patriarchs Otto and Atz embark on a dangerous mission to bring aid to a fellow homesteader.

Spring finally arrives on the homestead. Eivin mills lumber, builds a large chicken house from scratch and helps wife Eve take out a rogue cannibal hen. Desperate for food, Jane goes fishing for king salmon solo.

Otto and family battle the elements and predators to drive their cattle to the summer pasture. A missing calf causes Otto and Eivin to head off for a dangerous late night rescue mission. Atz Lee and Jane build a makeshift greenhouse.

Atz begins his summer range riding season to protect Otto's cattle herd. A bear menaces from the edge; a wolf invades the herd. Otto & family race the clock and the elements to gather in winter's hay crop. Eivin and Eve's cannibal hen strikes again.

The Kilchers rally & call in favors to tackle their largest project this season. They have 48 hours to build a long cattle fence and rebuild a cabin, or the treacherous river's tide will trap their barge full of critical equipment for another month.

Summer half over, the Kilchers head out fishing, but it's not for fun...at least not entirely. They need 100s of pounds of fish to eat and barter with during winter. Each couple has their own time-proven technique for catching salmon and trout.

Atz Lee and Eivin travel 160 miles and brave the bears of "Terrible Island" to hunt deer. Otto refuses to admit defeat and will use all the blackpowder he has to remove a pesky stump blocking his progress.

The Kilchers scramble to finish their winter prep. Otto confronts a predator killing calves from inside his herd. Atz Lee and Jane catch and smoke salmon in their secret fish camp. Eivin uses a samurai sword to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.

Cattleman Otto Kilcher sees life a little differently. Some people think he's crazy, but he'll tell you it's just his willingness to accept whatever life brings him. Otto's sense of humor is infectious and his ingenuity inspires everyone.

For the Kilchers, necessity truly is the mother of invention and recycling takes a on whole new level -- from bone yard scavenges and make-do parts to tasty roadkill suppers. And it's not just the Kilcher men who have to be tough and resourceful.

Late fall. Half the herd returns early from the summer grazing grounds so the Kilchers drive the rest home across icy rivers. The family rushes to finish other winter prep work but still makes time for a beach-scavenged gourmet picnic.

Otto gets creative to beat the frozen soil when he realizes he must move the outhouse, now. Eivin takes Eve on her first deerhunt on Afognak Island, which is teeming with wild animals including awake bears.

Otto pulls porcupine quills out of a colt's face. With Eivin's legal quota met, it's up to Eve to bring home more deer meat from their hunting trip, but she's conflicted about the kill. Atz and Atz Lee snare rabbits.