When Finns parents head off to some scientific mission on the other side of the world, leaving him with his grandparents on their Manitoba farm for a whole year, Finn is furious. He struggles to deal with his gran, his cantankerous great grandfather and the less-than-friendly kids at school. But the gentle, lazy Red River flowing nearby gives Finn and his only friend, the mysterious Angus, their only peace. Finn learns that the Red River flows backwardfrom south to north and this increases the possibility of it flooding again, as it has many times before.