Many children are present for Miss Agnes's first day, since it isn't time for winter camp, when they trap animals with their parents. In addition to Bertha and Fred, Jimmy Sam, Roger, Little Pete, Selina, Charlie-Boy, Kenny, Plasker, Toby Joe, and Marie are there, too. Fred is happy that she can stay in town during the winter because it means she can go to school.

Bokko and Fred are some of the only children who stay home in winter, as their father died of tuberculosis in a Juneau hospital when they were young. Fred often looks at the picture her family has of him and admires his eyes, which look like Bokko's. He was a cheerful man, but their mother is not. She works cleaning the general store, she sews items for others, she bakes and cooks. To sew items to sell, she has to do a lot of work to prepare and dry the skins, which she then uses for items like mittens and boots. Bokko and Fred help her with these tasks.

Some of the items are different Mama creates have modern adaptations; for example, Mamma embroiders beads on the boots, while Grandma explains that they used to use porcupine quills.