In Call of the Wild, Buck lives as a pampered house dog in California. He eats well, sleeps when he wants, and is treated with affection by his owners - that is, until he is abducted by thieves and pressed into service as a sled dog for the Klondike Gold Rush. Mistreated by a succession of abusive owners, Buck comes to realize that the key to survival is channeling the instinctive wildness of his heritage, hitherto buried deep beneath the veneer of civilised life.

White Fang tells the story of prospector Weedon Scott and White Fang, the dog he rescues from a cruel dog-fighter. Though the wolf-dog pup at first seems savage beyond rehabilitation, Scott's kind ministrations and earnest friendship eventually open the dog's heart to an acceptance of domestication. Written in the first decade of the twentieth century, Call of the Wild and White Fang are landmark tales of adventure that put Jack London's writing career on the map. They are also the work of a writer with an exquisite understanding of the dynamic between civilization and savagery.