It is 1980 and the United States has just beaten Russia, winning the Olympic gold medal in hockey. There is no question that people of the world have witnessed a miracle on the ice.

Carl White Hawk and Henry White Rock are worlds apart. Although their names sound nearly identical, their lives could not be more different. Carl is a communications major at Slippery Rock University and an elite hockey player who wants more than anything to add an exclamation point to the end of his college career by winning his final competition, the National Club Hockey Championship. Henry, the grandson of the chief of the Rocnaya Nation in Northern Canada, must prove himself worthy of becoming a brave by winning the Nation's most important competition. But as they prepare for the most important day in their lives, Carl and Henry have no idea that their two worlds are about to collide and create new destinies for both of them.

Big Chief Island shares the tale of an elite hockey player and a First Nation warrior, as each struggles to understand their place in the world as forces beyond their control guide their paths.