The Sign of the Beaver relates how Matt Hallowell matures from a child to an adult in the course of several weeks that he lives alone in the wilderness of Maine. Early in the novel, Matt supplies a vagrant trapper named Ben with food and lodgings only to have his gun stolen by the blustery old trapper. Soon after, a bear raids the Hallowell cabin, leaving Matt with almost no food to sustain him while he waits for his family to return.

Deprived of his provisions, Matt must rely on his own resources to survive. An early attempt to fend for himself fails miserably when he tries to retrieve honey from a beehive and ends up with multiple bee stings and a sprained ankle. Two Native Americans—Saknis and his thirteen-year-old grandson Attean—rescue the injured Matt, and Matt agrees to teach Attean to...