Thomas, his wife Alice, and their son, Edie, are at a museum with Edie's scout group. Edie is looking at a skull of a grizzly bear, and Mr. Steelman, their scout leader, invited a guest to tell a story of a quarrel he had with a grizzly bear. Eph, the speaker, was with his dog in a forest off the Missouri River when they came into contact with a bear. Eph had to struggle against it, shooting it twice until the bear dropped dead and Eph pass out until the morning, exhausted. When he awakes, Eph buries his dog, skins the bear, and then buries it too. Meanwhile, the father, Thomas, works at a law business with his friend Bob, and they're working on a big case for Bob's family that is supposed to save their family a lot of money. Thomas feigns interest in the case to Bob at a dinner party, but doesn't care for helping rich families save even more money. Mr. Steelman has taken his troop to Box Canyon so that they can look for the remains of the bear, since a museum would pay a lot of money for the skull, which would be enough to cover their trip to Yellowstone. They hike for hours and find the bear's ghastly remains, then pack it to take it back with them. The troop is outside of a lodge, boarding the bus back to their campsite, when Edie and his friend are distracted by a ranger talking about a few bears nearby, who are docile and beg for food like dogs. Edie and his friend miss the bus, forcing them to walk back to the site through the dark forest. On their way there, they encounter a grizzly bear, who charges at them. They use their flashlight to deter the bear, and break off, finally reaching their campsite. Edie goes home and tells everyone this story. Some time later, Thomas gets an urgent impulse to go on a camping trip with Edie and his wife, dropping his work and requesting two weeks off. When it's granted, he goes home trying to convince Alice, but she refuses to go, though says that Edie can go if Thomas just waits until the next day rather than going right away. In the night, though Edie develops a bad fever, forcing Thomas to cancel the trip and focus on his work instead.