 In the novel, Atuk is a Canadian Inuit poet from Baffin Island who gets transplanted to Toronto; however in the proposed film screenplay Atuk is a native of Alaska who ends up in New York City.In the film adaptation, Atuk was to be the son of an Inuit woman and a missionary who dreams of seeing the world outside of the Inuit territory of Alaska.He sees his chance when a beautiful documentarian named Michelle Ross and her crew, arrive to film the village he lives in.