Jim Thalheimer

Documents the lives of three long-haul truck drivers whose routes take them throughout North America - even to the Arctic. The complexity of their work is on display as bad weather, unsafe driving conditions, and rising fuel prices add to the stress of being away from home for weeks at a time. Even so, the film celebrates the joy of the open road and a spirit of independence.

The Karluk Expedition of 1913 was to be a grand scientific journey to the high Arctic, the most comprehensive polar research ever undertaken. Instead, the Karluk's team of scientists, hard-luck crewmen, one Inuit family and ship's cat soon became stuck. Shipwrecked and marooned on a heaving ocean of ice, they would see death, deprivation, injury, illness, deceit - even murder - during their agonizing year-long fight for survival.