In Grizzly Country, an 11-year-old boy reunited on a weekend fishing trip with a father he scarcely knows and has not seen for years. Their emotions and experiences collide as they work together to overcome their conflict and survive the Grizzly bears.

SYNOPSIS:

In the Spring of 1969, When Mark, the father David scarcely knows, arrives to take him on a weekend fishing trip over the Memorial weekend, the eleven-year-old David is tense and nervous. His parents had separated due to work, and David is afraid that his rugged, outdoorsman father will put him to the test he cannot meet. Other kids had fathers around, but he had only vague memories of his father leaving him to work in the oil fields halfway around the world. His father was a hard-working provider who thought it best to work overseas and let his Native American wife, Jeanne raise their son. Their ideas of raising children were very different. Mark fears his son will become a sissy or, worse, with his wife ruling the home.

David felt uneasy and alone as he drove past Trapper's Creek with his father and headed further into the wilderness. Mark goes deep into a seldom-used valley, where they were the only humans about for miles. Once settled in their camping spot, David thinks fishing is much different from how his dad fishes. His Dad was a Fly-fisherman and never used worms like David intended to find and use.

David separates from his father while looking for worms and discovers something odd. An area that has been turned and graded with a rake. He feels they are not alone in the valley and that something is lurking around and eyeing their camp. For the first time, he sees his Dad is not what his imagination had remembered. He misunderstood the past, where his memory was of his parents always fighting. He realizes his mother never explained why his father worked away very well. David is unnerved to be out and away from civilization. It was something his mother didn't prepare him for. He feels as if he is being watched.

Jeanne is disturbed by the whole thing and reluctantly lets her boy go camping at Trapper's Creek with Mark. Being psychic, she has an ominous feeling and quickly fears the worst. This fishing trip was not a good idea. The first night her boy is away, she has nightmares and visions of dangers and disasters coming for David and Mark. By Sunday, she has heard nothing and decides to investigate independently. She first stops by a police station to file a missing person's report but is only laughed at. She drives out to Trapper's Creek and checks up on them. Not finding them and being accosted but unruly drunk campers, she returns home. After more terrible dreams, she sets out Monday morning to the national forest station near Trapper's Creek. She knows her boy needs her help and continues her search. The Rangers confirm her fears that there have been Grizzly bear sightings in the area.

The weekend proves to be a turning point for both father and son. Jeanne is right. The intrusion of a giant mother grizzly chases David up into a tree, turns on Mark and injures him, eats their provisions, and finally puts their pickup truck out of commission. This forces David to take charge. But can he get himself and his injured father out of the forest in time? David finds resources in himself he never dreamed of, and his thoughts about his father have changed in caring for his injured father.

By Monday, it is clear Mark can't mend the truck quickly, and Mark fears his wounds to his leg will due him in; without a tunicate, he can't stop the bleeding. He suggests that David take the gun and walk the eight miles back to Trapper's Creek for help. David makes only 2 miles when he runs into another camp. But he finds no support there. The camp looks like a tornado hit it, and there under the brush are two mauled and bloody dead campers. He tries to hold down his stomach but retches. Panic overwhelms him, and he frantically returns to his father. He arrives just in time to shoot the big Grizzly pressing on the pickup door, trying to get to his father. The shot burns the Grizzly across the skull and detaches part of the bear's ear. The big gun recoil slams David back to the ground, and he fires again at the mass of the Grizzly. The big Grizzly high-tales out of there.

Another tense night passes. The rest of the shells are used up, shooting at ghosts. It is Tuesday, and Mark is on his feet again, and the bleeding seems to stop. He gets the truck repaired; it was a fuse problem! They finally drive out, leaving the valley and the Grizzlies behind. Through their ordeal, the two are closer than they had ever been. Mark has rigged a stick to push on the clutch so he manages to drive. Just in case, he tossed the last two bullets in the box into the glove box along with the gun.

The big Grizzly suddenly returns and attacks the truck again, running along the side of the moving truck and swiping at them. Mark has David load the last two bullets into the gun. But on the rough road, they fall to the floor. The boy scrambles to pick them back up and load the gun as Mark fights with the crazed Grizzly ramming like a bumper car into the pickup's side. Mark aims and clicks on an empty chamber. He pulls the trigger again and misses. With only one round left, he gets in a good shot into the mass of the bear—the bear roars and veers off into the forest.

But Mark's leg is bleeding again after that battle with the Grizzly. Too weak and on the verge of passing out, David has to drive. David has to quickly learn, with his father's help, how to dive a clutch. The pressure is on, as the Grizzly may be back anytime. They work together to get out of the forest, and not long on their way again where the dirt road narrows with tall pines thick along both sides. They come around a curve, and the wounded Grizzly, clearly with blood on his side and a ripped-up ear, rears to full height, standing in the center of the tight spot. All they have left is the truck, and Mark pushes David's foot down on the pedal. Then Mark remembers the flare gun under the seat now on the floor. As they speed toward the Grizzly, Mark takes aim and fires! The flare rocket hits the Grizzly right between the eyes! They successfully frighten off the bear with the flare gun, with a bullseye and a shower of sparks.

Mark passes out as David makes their way back to Trapper's Creek. But there is no one there. A big yellow warning sign warns of bears in the area. Davis continues turning onto the paved road leading to the highway. The hasty truck repair finally gives way, a spot where the electrical tape failed. When the truck dies, David pulls to the side of the road, rolling to a silent stop. With his father out, he gets out of the pickup to walk for help or flag down a car. But there are no cars in any direction. Tired and defeated, he begins to walk. After a few steps, he sees a car coming in his direction, but with the sun behind it, he can't see the driver. The vehicle quickly pulls over when it sees the boy. A woman gets out and runs for David. It is Jeanne.

Jeanne and David get Mark into her car's backseat and head to the hospital. David tells all about the trip as his mother drives. He tells her he got it wrong about his father and looks forward to having him home. Jeanne agrees it will be a welcome change. Mark has been listening from the back and knows if he survives this Grizzly encounter, he can deal with anything, mainly if it includes a Native American princess and a boy growing into a man. They all agree they can become a family again, and Mark, once healed, comes home to stay as it ends.

THE GRIZZLY