The story’s narrator is Tek, who lives in a town surrounded by glaciers and is a member of the Waitiki Valley Boys Choir. He lives with his mother, and stepfather, Mr. Oamaru, as well as his three sisters, Rachel, Rebecca, and Ruth. The story opens during a family dinner during which Mr. Oamaru encourages Tek to befriend Rangi Gibson, a local mute boy who is the adopted son of the cemetery owner.

Tek protests and also does not want to go to the Aokeora Glacier to sing with his choir in the yearly tradition that starts a controlled avalanche. He clearly resents Mr. Oamaru, who calls him “son.” Mr. Oamaru is good to his mother and brought her back to her beautiful self after his father left, which Tek hates.

The ritual of the Avalanche is “a ritual we continue because of blind tradition and our parents’ desire to booze” (199). All year, the choir bakes and sells moonpies to pay to fly up to the mountain to start the avalanche by singing, while the families gather at the base of the mountain to watch. The song they sing is The Pirates Conquest, which tells the piratical history of their town.