Gloomy Gus

Everyone in Alaska knows to stay clear of a mother Kodiak bear and her cubs. But when young Eric Strong finds a dead mother bear and her orphaned cub he has no clue what to do. He’s just a boy and his father spends his days (and money) at the local tavern. People in Eric’s small Alaska mining village like to talk about an old prospector in the hills, Ten-Day Watson, who keeps wild animals as pets and who’s fabled to have raised a wolf and moose together. Eric and Ten-Day agree to raise this bear cub together, finding him tame and gentle. Locals start visiting Watson’s property and soon tourists by the boatload are clamoring into the hills to view “the only tame Kodiak in the world.” This catches the attention of a traveling circus from the Lower 48 who wants to pay Eric’s belligerent father a hefty sum to use the bear in their show. Forced to leave their home, Eric and the bear bond even closer as they travel with the circus, learn the hard truth about human nature, and embark on an adventure the two could never have imagined.