Story of Cam Calloway and his family, who live in a densely wooded area in New England. Cam dreams of building a sanctuary for the geese that fly over the area each year, and he tries several schemes to buy a nearby lake for this santuary. He is thwarted at every attempt, it seems; he and his son try to get enough furs from their trapping venture to get the money, but the bottom falls out of the fur market. He uses the little money they get for a down payment on the lake, thereby losing their house when he can't make the mortgage payment. They move to the lake, where their friends help them build a cabin. A salesman stops in town, and tries to get the people to sell their land for a tourist venture; Cam is outraged at his tactics and takes desperate measures after he himself is tricked.

Cam Calloway, an Irish trapper and woodsman raised by the Micmac Indians, lives in Swiftwater, Maine, with his wife, Liddy, and his 19-year-old son, Bucky. His fondest hope is to establish a sanctuary for the great flocks of wild geese which fly over Swiftwater in autumn during their southward migration. In order to purchase a large tract of land for the proposed sanctuary, Cam spends all the profits from an entire season of trapping. As a result, he is unable to meet the mortgage payments on his own home, and he and his family are evicted. Forced to move to the lake, they find that many of their neighbors are willing to help them build a new home. Meanwhile, Dell Fraser, a traveling salesman, schemes to convert Swiftwater into a resort for goose hunters. Posing as a conservationist, Dell gives Cam money to plant corn which would lure the birds down during their migration. Bucky learns of the plan, and Cam has a violent argument with the profiteers. After Cam is seriously wounded by a rifle shot, the townspeople organize a petition authorizing the federal government to buy the marshland for a sanctuary. As Cam recovers from his wound, Fraser and his cohorts leave town, and the dream of the Calloways becomes a reality.