1
[wind howling]
Haw, Togo! Haw! Haw!
Good dog! Good dog!
Leave it!
[barking]
Leave it alone!
[thunder rumbling]
Good dog.
Well done, Togo!
Well done, all!
There'll be full bellies
and warm beds tonight.
[barking]
All right, Togo! Hike!
Whoa!
[man] There's been a diphtheria outbreak.
How long?
- More than a week.
- Constance?
Fine. She's fine.
It's mostly children.
Five have died.
Bless them.
Twenty more sick here in Nome.
And no telling how many
in the Inuit villages.
They found serum in Fairbanks.
They just don't know how
to get it from there to here.
Anyway, everybody's at Dexter's,
and they're asking for you.
Hike!
[man] What we have in our children
is an epidemic.
And without antitoxin,
it's a death sentence to most,
if not all those infected.
[people murmuring]
The good news is,
they've located antitoxin
at the Fairbanks Railroad Hospital,
and they're ready
to put it on the next train to Nenana.
A round trip from here to Nenana
is still 600 miles.
They have aeroplanes in Fairbanks,
and we could fly it here.
Did you see those clouds on the horizon
when you came over?
Of course I did,
but maybe it's not as bad as it looks.
Seppala, you were out there.
What do you think?
It's going to be bad.
How bad?
Memorable, I think.
What makes you think?
Well, it looks biblical enough,
and the barometer's falling
in a pretty disturbing way but...
But what?
We came up on caribou this morning.
About 200 yards to our right, he saw them.
My foot was ready on the brake,
and he ignored them and kept running.
That's when I knew this storm was special.
I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Togo's a caribou chaser of some renown.
I still don't understand.
Never in 12 years
had he not at least turned for them.
When an animal denies his nature
and runs for the barn
because he fears the storm...
man better fear the storm.
I see.
In a storm like this,
how quickly could you get there and back?
Not "how quickly,"
"if."
[scattered groans]
Then I say aeroplane.
Open cockpit aeroplane?
Water-cooled engines?
Did you call that airfield in Fairbanks?
They're making an assessment.
I'll bet they are.
I seriously don't think
flying's an option.
But, in answer to your question,
"how quick?"
Seppala once ran for me,
all the way to Nenana, in four days.
For factual reference only.
Personally I never cared
for the notion that sled dogs
should be replaced by machines,
but today I'm a champion of progress.
Come on, pup.
[indistinct]
[thunder rumbling]
Seppala, you going by the hospital?
Climb on.
Hike!
[Seppala] Whoa! Whoa!
Much obliged.
Good luck, doctor.
Towns are, uh,
usually founded by topography...
proximity to roads and rivers.
Nome was founded by luck.
The gold at Anvil Creek?
You could see it with your naked eye,
pick it up with your fingers
from the sand.
Gold dries up.
Luck dries up.
[dogs whining]
[door closes]
- [children coughing]
- [babies crying]
[nurse speaking indistinctly]
- [crying continues]
- [coughing continues]
[dogs barking]
[barking continues]
[door opens, closes]
Where does he find the energy?
By his reckoning,
he's still ten weeks old.
[Constance chuckles]
So, you'll go?
I just got home.
You're anxious to be rid of me?
Hmm. Could be.
Have reason for me to be gone, do you?
- I have lovers.
- Ah?
Too many to count.
- I have no one but myself to blame.
- [chuckles]
I was warned
not to marry someone so beautiful.
Warned by whom?
Everyone with eyesight.
So, you will go?
I have no such inclination.
Then why are you waxing sled runners?
They need wax.
[Constance]
Can it even be done in this weather?
Anything can be done.
Well, let them choose
someone else for once.
- The room was full of mushers.
- Right.
But it's always my husband they come for.
Pick someone with more at stake in this.
I stopped at the hospital.
All those children, we know them.
I know.
That little girl that lives next to Mallon
and always runs out to pet the dogs.
Sally, who pets everyone's dogs,
not just yours.
We know those children.
We know their parents.
I understand this.
And tomorrow I'll be ashamed.
But right now, I'm sorry, I'm afraid.
It's not the first storm to hit Alaska.
Don't patronize me.
You're right.
Don't take Togo. Fritz could lead.
I'll cross that bridge when and if.
He's 12 years old.
You said he's too old to go to Elwald,
and that isn't even
a quarter of this distance.
You're upsetting yourself for nothing.
Let's go to sleep.
I must say this before you make a decision
you'll forever regret.
You're more attached to him than you know,
and you're about to run him to his death.
And you're not prepared for what
it's going to do to you, I promise you.
Is that all?
He is, of course, your dog,
and a working dog.
And, were I more pragmatic,
I wouldn't love him, but I do.
And I'm just so heartsick
that these are my last hours with him.
Two things.
One: if I were to try for Nenana
in these conditions without him,
these would be your last hours with me.
And two: at this hour, nothing's decided.
- [pounding on door]
- [dog barks]
You were saying?
George?
- [wind howling]
- Evening, George.
[chuckles]
It appears your forecast is correct,
if my journey out here is any evidence.
The wind almost stopped me dead
a couple times.
Oh, I... I talked with Fairbanks.
There will be no airborne rescue of Nome.
So, the time of the dog,
not only continues, it's at hand.
So, you felt the need to come
all the way out here to share this news?
Some things you need to say
to a man's face,
isn't that right, Mr. Mayor?
Yeah.
Coffee or whiskey?
Whiskey. If it's no trouble.
No. No trouble. I'm having both.
We have to be smart about this.
You're going to ride in the sled
when I tell you.
No squirming. No arguments, for once.
Got one more in ya, pup?
[dogs barking]
Almost there.
Good dogs.
I've seen worse.
We could have a picnic.
I'll be back before you know it.
I won't even make the bed.
Hey. Hey.
You bring him back to me, okay?
And you come back to me.
Good boy.
[Seppala] All right, Togo!
Hike!
[church bell tolling]
[man] Come on, Togo!
Come on, Togo!
Come on! There you go.
[Seppala] Hike!
[wind howling]
Here it comes.
[puppy whines]
[whining continues]
[wheezing]
[coos]
You tend to your business,
I'll tend to mine.
How can it not be my business?
No dogs in the bedroom.
He's in such pain.
And in our bedroom.
A runt has more imperfections
than just size, you know.
Nature has its ways of sorting things out.
Oh, should I just drown him
and speed up the process?
I'm just saying that Alaska
can be particularly cruel to the weak.
I don't need to be reminded.
What does it cost you
to give this life a chance?
What does he bring
to the breed if he survives?
[Constance] The heart of a survivor.
You're too softhearted.
You're too Norwegian.
[pounding]
[yelps]
Get!
Why don't you put him back in the kennel?
Every time I do, he digs his way out.
I'm spending more daylight filling holes
than doing the work I should be doing.
[barking]
I catch you, you'll be sorry.
[sniffing]
It's all your fault.
I thought you were supposed to be
a great trainer of dogs.
He's a devil.
Saint Francis of Assisi
would shoot this dog.
Hey!
- He's fast.
- He's mentally deficient.
He's undersized,
unintelligent, untrainable.
Yeah, but he's fast.
I think you ought to give him
a chance on the sled.
Stop, stop. That is not a sled dog.
Never ever.
Well, you won't know until you try.
I won't know, period.
Victor Anderson wants one of my pups.
Well, I have the dog to give him.
Every year we go through this.
Not like this.
How many times do I have to remind you?
They're not pets. They're not our friends.
They're not our children.
They're animals.
Work animals.
Serves you right.
[Togo whines]
Here you go.
[whining continues]
[pounding]
[dogs barking]
Here's your damn dog back!
[chuckles]
Well, shame on you, Victor Anderson.
If you didn't want a dog, why bother us?
He's more trouble than he's worth.
I think I'll go down now.
I would.
[wind howling]
Hike up!
The easy part is over.
Easy! Easy!
[groaning]
[panting]
[grumbles]
- [barks]
- Whoa. Whoa!
Haw!
Whoa!
[yelling]
[screaming]
[yelping]
[screams]
[whining]
[wind howling]
Togo! Hike up! Hike up!
[groans]
Togo! Togo! Hike up!
Hike up!
Pull, Togo!
Pull!
Pull up!
Pull!
Togo! Pull up!
[barking]
Yes!
Yes!
Good dog!
Yes! Pull.
[sighs]
Good dog!
Next time I go the wrong way,
you tell me to go to hell.
Good dog.
Good dogs, all!
[laughs]
We have to take care of this
at the roadhouse.
[groans]
Thank you.
[woman humming]
[Seppala groans]
[woman singing in foreign language]
Her name, Atiqtalik,
means "polar bear mother."
Your dog is her cub now.
[speaking foreign language]
[resumes singing]
She can fix.
What does her song say?
"Don't worry, young one...
soon it'll be warm again."
When I finish,
you'll start serving life in prison.
All because I married a Belgian.
Belgium is a soft country.
Norway, on the other hand,
is a harsh country.
In Brussels,
you'd sleep in a feathered bed
and have salmon roe for breakfast.
In Storfjord, your days would be numbered.
[whines]
Lesson number one: never marry a Belgian.
They're sentimental.
And you end up doing days of hard work
for a problem that a bullet
solves in seconds.
Lesson number two: for you, Satan,
or whatever your name is...
try digging out now.
[dogs barking]
[whining]
Okay!
Hike! Hike! Good job!
[Togo whining]
[sniffing]
[thud]
[sniffing]
[thud]
[thud]
[sniffs]
[dogs barking]
[panting]
Hey! Stop that!
Hey!
Hey, stop that! Hey!
Whoa!
No! No!
You.
[grunting in the distance]
- [grunting]
- Oh, no.
- Easy now. Leave it!
- [Togo growling]
Leave it!
No! No!
Leave it! No!
On by!
Leave it!
Leave it alone!
No!
Whoa!
Haw! Haw!
[grunts]
[sighs]
[pounding]
Go! Get!
Since when did you start worrying about
keeping people out of the tack room?
This isn't for keeping people out.
You're taking him out of the kennel
and putting him in here?
The kennel won't hold him.
- Apparently your dog...
- Not my dog.
Your dog, who disrupts my team.
Your dog, who jumps on me
no matter how many knees
I put to his chest.
Your dog,
who violates the rules of the pack
and upsets the hierarchy
I've worked years to establish.
Your cur,
who rewards your kind nature with anarchy.
This is for keeping him in.
Was that a piece of our house?
[whimpering]
[dogs barking]
[lock clinking]
[whimpering]
[dogs barking]
Hey!
Hike!
Good dogs!
[whimpering]
[sniffing]
- [wings fluttering]
- [bird chirping]
[barks]
[bird chittering]
[clattering]
- [clattering continues]
- [Togo whining]
[crash]
[sniffing]
[glass shattering]
[clattering in the distance]
[glass shattering]
[sniffing]
Well, good afternoon.
[panting]
Good luck, little one.
[Togo barks]
[dogs barking]
[Seppala] Hey! You again?
Just leave it. Leave it!
Stop! No!
Stop! Let... You little devil.
Hey! Stop that!
[wind howling]
[man] When you see Oki, say hello.
Not going to see Oki.
You're gonna cut across the Sound?
It'll save me a day.
It'll cost you your life.
I've done it before.
The ice is unpredictable now.
We'll make it. Listen to me,
stay away from contact with people
until I come back with the medicine.
Who would be foolish enough
to come here in this weather?
[door opens, closes]
[child coughing, crying]
[child groans]
[coughing]
[dog barking]
All right, Togo.
Hike!
[ice cracking]
Good dog! On by!
What, my pups, are we to fear ice now?
He which hath no stomach to this fight.
Let him depart.
His passport shall be made.
We will not die in that dog's company.
Old dogs forget
but he will remember, with advantages,
the feats he did that day.
Then shall our names familiar in his mouth
as household words,
Seppala, the driver,
Fritz and Sally, Molly and Red and Togo,
the great Togo in lead,
be all in their flowing water bowls
freshly remembered.
And dogs in Nome, now abed, shall think
themselves accursed they were not here.
We few, we happy few,
we band of champions.
Now, run, my pups. Run!
Max, get this out to the Associated Press.
People should know what's happening here.
This is all you want to write?
It's all I have in me.
[jazz music playing]
[chattering]
"Temperatures
of almost 60 degrees below zero
and winds topping 50 miles an hour."
[laughs]
"Man and dog risk all
on a 640-mile round trip."
[radio announcer]
With lives in the balance,
a heroic race runs through conditions
so terrible we can scarcely imagine.
...The question on everyone's lips is not
"can they get there and back in time?"
but "can they get there and back at all?"
Well done, pups. Well done!
[man] You're trail weary.
[Seppala] I've been worse.
So, to Nulato next?
In an hour.
Why? We bothering you?
Only the white man bothers me.
[chuckles]
I only tolerate you
because I like your little dog.
You like to bet on my little dog.
There are advantages
to being at this roadhouse on race days.
Most dogs, when they reach Shaktoolik,
have worry in their eyes.
This one, never.
This one wants to hurry up and win
so he can chase caribou
and fight polar bear.
I tried to give him away, you know.
Twice.
[Togo whines]
Whoa!
When I told my father
I was leaving for Alaska,
he laughed at me.
He thought it was a joke.
Only an idiot would be foolish enough
to give up an apprenticeship in Norway
to be unemployed in America.
When I said the word "gold,"
he slapped me.
And he promised me
that the only gold I would find in Alaska
was what I'd brought in my own teeth.
[sighs] He was right.
I've dug so many holes in this country.
The law of averages would say that,
at least, I'd find some gold but...
no.
My business is dogs, not pets.
Working dogs.
And hard decisions have to be made.
If this is the hardest decision
we ever have to make,
then you can consider us lucky.
You see spirit and something lovable.
All I see is trouble,
waste of time, and failure.
Step up!
[woman] Oh, he's just perfect.
[Seppala] He's an escape artist, though,
as I told you before.
Oh. Don't worry about that.
I want him to be an inside dog.
Well, inside might not...
Last winter I had wolves at the door.
They would jump up at the window
and stare at me.
Trust me. There were no wolves
where I was raised in Ireland.
But with this lad by my side,
no wolf would dare enter.
Unless he opens the door for them.
I beg pardon?
Uh, my wife was just reminding me that
we must be going.
So, please, enjoy your puppy.
Thank you.
It's okay, sweetheart.
This is your new home.
He'll be fine.
[Togo barking]
Okay, hike!
That's enough now, you daft mongrel.
You're no dog, you're the Devil himself.
That's it. You go ahead and run.
There's no way out.
[opera music playing]
All the time in the world.
You'll run till you're tired,
then we can start working on your manners.
[barks]
Oi! This isn't Little Creek anymore,
you little hooligan.
Ah, that's better.
There you are.
Now, you be a good boy
and I'll fix you a nice beef steak
for your lunch.
Oh, no! No. No!
Hike! Hike!
[dog barks]
Whoa!
[dog barking]
[dogs barking]
Whoa!
Hey!
Every predator for miles
smells that blood.
I'm trying to save your life.
Okay, Russky, come with me.
Come on, up. Up.
Good dog.
Oh, no. Don't even think about it.
All right. Last row for you.
Meet Ilsa. Try something with her
and I promise you, you'll regret it.
[Ilsa growling]
All right, hike!
Well, you outran Ilsa.
Let's see how you do on point.
Good.
Come on.
Good dog, Jens.
[Ilsa growling]
[whining]
[Togo yelping]
Haw!
Good pups.
[dogs barking]
Good dogs! Good dogs! Good dogs!
Whoa!
It's the most extraordinary thing
I've ever seen.
He's not a sled dog, he's a lead dog.
You should have seen him.
He outran every single one of them.
- He's magnificent. A future champion.
- There's blood.
You were right.
He's got the heart of a survivor.
I'm going to name him Togo.
After the admiral.
An underdog named for an underdog.
It's fitting.
[Seppala chuckles]
Honey! Come here, please?
Come. Step around him, he won't move.
- I have things to do.
- Over here. Next to me.
Please.
Okay, now, call him.
Ask him to come into the bedroom.
Do it.
Togo, come.
Again.
- [scoffs] This isn't fair.
- Of course it is. Again, more demanding.
Togo, you come in this room!
My husband is trying to prove
a point of some kind.
No dogs in the bedroom.
Good boy, Togo. Good boy.
Outstanding!
Good dog.
[man] I don't care what the governor says,
he's wrong.
Irrespective of how you feel, Jafet...
Well, Mrs. Seppala.
Any musher would be lucky
to survive 30 miles in this weather.
Seppala's the only one
who can survive a longer run!
What's this nonsense about a relay?
Uh, now, Constance, this is a good thing.
- Is this it?
- It is.
Fourteen teams stationed
at these roadhouses
between Nenana and Shaktoolik.
Even as we speak,
they're running short legs
passing the serum
from one sled to the next.
And on our end, two teams will go out
to these roadhouses and wait for Seppala.
We'll need another sled
for the relay on our end.
Is it possible you can
put together a team for us?
Of course.
Do you think your man, Gunnar,
would drive them?
- Of course.
- Good.
The governor came up with this when?
Twelve hours after Seppala departed.
Leave it to a politician to change
the rules after the game's begun.
No. This is a good thing.
Seppala won't have to go as far.
- But he has no idea there's a relay.
- Exactly.
Just... Please.
Now, by best estimate,
the relay should be at the roadhouse
in Shaktoolik tomorrow.
Now the governor's people
have worked this all out.
And by all accounts, when Seppala arrives
at Shaktoolik tomorrow,
the serum will be there waiting for him.
[Constance] He's in Shaktoolik now.
- Or past it.
- What? No. No, that's not possible.
I know my husband, if there's ice
on Norton Sound, he's crossed it.
In this storm?
Surely he's not going to try and cross...
Of course he would.
Going around the Sound
is 90 miles, crossing it is 20.
He saves a day each way.
George, if there's ice on the Sound,
he's crossed it.
And if they don't meet at the roadhouse...
Then they'll just hook up on the trail.
There are 1,000 ways a driver
can miss another on the trail.
A thousand ways in good weather.
- You know this.
- I do.
So, if my husband doesn't magically run
into your relay team,
the one he is not even looking for,
he and his dogs will drive on for Nenana.
And your relay driver,
when he realizes he's missed them,
he will set out on his own.
But he wouldn't do that, would he?
- Who is it? Who's the driver?
- Henry Ivanoff.
Well, Henry is tough and brave,
and he's not going to sit in front
of a warm fire while children die.
I promise you that. He'll set out.
Well, can he make it?
I won't speculate on the life of a musher.
Can he?
My guess is
we don't find Henry until the spring.
Not him, not his dogs,
not the serum, until the thaw.
[Mayor] But, uh...
Four days ago, in this very room,
we concluded only one man and one dog
could make that run.
And nothing has changed but the weather.
It's worse.
[George] All those children... lost.
Pray they meet.
[Henry] Gee! Gee!
Gee! Gee! Round.
Hike! Gee! Gee!
Leave it. Leave it!
Haw! Haw!
Leave it!
Haw!
[barks]
[dogs barking]
No, no, no, no, no.
Sepp, no!
Don't!
Sepp! Sepp!
I have the serum!
No! I have the serum.
Sepp!
Sepp!
No!
[dogs barking in distance]
[Henry] Bill Shannon took the first leg.
Ran through the night.
Fifty below, easy.
He arrived in Tolovana
with his face black from frostbite.
He passed on to Ed Kallands.
They had to pour hot water on his hands
'cause they were frozen to the sled.
Then went Tommy Patsy.
Then Jackscrew.
But none of us are as tough as you, Sepp.
- Sepp?
- Yeah, what?
You okay?
Of course. Never better.
What about him?
What about him?
Please take this the right way, okay?
That, right there,
is the best dog I've ever known...
but what I'm looking at is a spent animal.
He is.
This storm just about broke all my pups.
I wouldn't be a true friend
if I didn't speak my mind and...
[sighs]
Leave him here. I'll take good care of him
till the weather breaks.
He's my lead!
Now do yourself a favor
and tend to your own.
Sure, Sepp.
I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have spoken to you like that.
Yeah, don't give it a second thought.
No, that was shameful of me.
Especially since what you said
was out of kindness.
Whatever happens tomorrow,
fortune or fault,
is mine and mine to reconcile.
But I thank you, Henry,
for thinking of the dog.
Not many do.
[doctor] "To sleep, to sleep.
The long bright day is done.
And darkness rises
from the fall of the sun.
To sleep, to sleep.
Whate'er thy joys,
they vanish with the day.
Whate'er thy griefs,
in sleep they fade away.
To sleep, to sleep.
Sleep mournful heart
and let the past be past.
Sleep, happy soul.
All life will sleep at last.
To sleep.
To sleep."
[man] Still time for me to place a bet?
[Seppala] Thanks for your hospitality.
Looks like I was wrong.
You weren't wrong.
The die is cast. We'll make it.
[barking]
All right, Togo! Hike!
He's going across the Sound again.
[Henry] Seppala, no!
He knows what his dogs have left.
For him, it's the Sound or nothing.
[dogs barking]
[barking]
Hike!
Gee! Gee!
[ice cracking]
Haw! Haw!
Good puppies!
Good dogs!
Good dog! Go puppies!
Go!
Hold up, Togo!
Good dog.
Run!
Run!
On straight.
Run, puppies!
[cheering]
- Come on! Come on!
- Go, go, go, go, go!
Twenty more dollars on Leonhard Seppala.
Twenty dollars on those itty-bitty dogs.
Scotty Allan,
the greatest musher of all time,
left the last roadhouse in the lead.
Friend, this race is over.
[men laughing]
You see that?
That's the best dog team
in the world, right there.
- Hike! Hike!
- [Seppala] They know who they are,
time for us to find out who we are.
Go! Come on, puppies!
Haw! Haw!
Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!
Hike! Good dog!
Come on, dogs! Come on, dogs!
Hike! Hike! Hike! Hike!
Good dogs! Good dogs! Good dogs!
[Scotty] Hike, doggy!
[Seppala] Whoo-hoo!
Wait a minute.
That's not Scotty.
Who is that?
That, my friends, is Leonhard Seppala
and his itty-bitty dogs.
[man laughs] Whoo!
[crowd cheering]
Whoa!
[cheering continues]
Congratulations, Sepp.
Togo. Hi.
Well done. You did it. [chuckles]
Good boy.
[hammering]
Did you ever think we'd have
such a thing on our wall?
[chuckles] I never thought we'd have
$5,000 in prize money.
Prize money you can't hang on a wall.
Actually, you can if you have enough pins.
All thanks to this troublemaker.
The only one
who never underestimated you, was you.
- [Constance clears throat]
- [stammers] And my genius wife.
My beautiful, genius wife.
[dogs barking]
Haw!
Haw!
[rumbling]
Hike up!
Hike up!
Up! Up! Up!
Run!
Hike up!
- [grunts]
- [yelps]
Togo! Hike up! Go!
Good dog!
Good dog!
Run puppies!
We made it.
We made it!
Whoa! Whoa!
[barks]
No matter what happens, forgive me.
Hike up, Togo! Hike!
[whines]
Hike up! Hike up!
Pull up, Togo!
Pull!
Pull!
No, Fritz. Wait! Wait!
[barking]
Yes!
Yes! Hike!
[screams]
[yelling]
[grunts]
Good boy, Togo! Good dog.
Good dogs, all!
Get up there, puppies.
You know, I can do that.
I'll do it. Drink that.
Why?
[speaking foreign language]
The pine stings her eyes.
[Constance]
Thank you for doing this, Gunnar.
[Gunnar] Anything I can do to help.
My greatest worry is that
he'd be within miles and...
No such thing is going to happen.
Sepp is the best musher I know.
Nothing will stop him from getting home.
If you'll outfit the sled,
I'll start pulling dogs.
No, no, Mrs. Seppala. I can do both.
You should sleep.
I've had my fill of time in the house.
If it's all the same to you,
I'd prefer to fetch dogs.
Sure. And who do you think
I should have in lead?
Fox is the best dog left.
Paired with Balto.
They won't win any races,
but they'll plow through snow
and run home for dinner.
Thank you.
[barking]
Hike up!
Good dogs.
Pass the word
there's chores waiting for him.
Gladly.
Fox, Balto. Hike!
Come with me.
[Seppala] I haven't the time.
Come.
I need to go.
Last night I was worried about you.
Thought you'd bit off
more than you could chew.
Then I saw that.
And asked myself...
"Why should Amituk worry about any man...
who cheats death like this?"
Now, you're gonna ride in the sled.
Even if it's just for 20 miles.
Come now, for once ride in the sled.
Stay.
[grunts]
Hike!
[grunts]
Whoa!
Togo! I'm sorry. I can't help you.
I can't see.
We need to get to the next roadhouse.
Take us to Big Joe. I know you can.
I know you can.
Good dog. Good dog.
Hike up!
[dog whimpers]
Oh, no.
[groans]
Togo?
Togo?
We can't stop. We must keep going.
Do you understand? We stop, we die.
Listen to me, if you stop, you die.
[creaking]
- [man] Seppala?
- Oh!
- Seppala, is that you?
- Oh, God.
Joe, we're here.
Oh, God.
The serum's in the sled.
You go inside.
I'll get the dogs in the barn.
Thank you. But not him.
You're magnificent.
Magnificent. Magnificent.
Seppala! Inside.
Now, Leonhard, your race is over.
Just have a drink with me.
This one, this one here.
All those miles in this storm,
12 years old.
That's just incredible.
[man] Wish me luck.
[grunting]
[man] Charlie, you made it.
- Here.
- [man] Is this the serum?
- Warm this.
- Aye.
- Good luck, Gunnar.
- Thanks.
My dogs, my dogs, they're... I need help.
There is a sled coming to town.
[grunting]
[panting]
Here.
Thank you.
[dogs barking, whining]
Sir, I need your name,
for the record, sir.
Gunnar Kaasen.
"Gunnar Kaasen." Excellent.
Now, the lead dog. What's its name?
One's called Fox.
"Fox"?
People will think it's a real fox.
The other one, what's its name?
Balto.
"Balto." Yeah. Perfect.
Hey! Get that dog's photo there.
That's Balto. Champion savior of Nome.
[children chattering]
[laughing]
[Joe]
You ought to stay another week, at least.
[Seppala] Look at this.
I know, I just wish
you would allow yourself more...
You've been a fine host, Joe.
You treated me and my dogs like family.
Thank you.
He up to it?
We'll make it.
[dogs barking]
There's a dog in our bedroom.
Yes, there is.
[Constance] There's a dog on our bed.
Yes. There is.
You should've woke me.
You had him to yourself long enough.
Then again,
to hear the newspapers tell it,
you never left the house.
It was all Balto and Gunnar.
We have company.
[dogs barking]
If you like pears, these'll put
a smile on your face, I think.
Thank you, Eileen. Come in.
Ah, bacon.
It's the best I ever made right here.
- Thank you, Bill.
- [Bill chuckles]
Hey, Sepp!
Really, this is too much.
Oh, it's not nearly enough.
[Constance] Good morning, Dan.
[grunts]
Morning, Constance.
Sepp.
So, I had some furs laying around
and I stuffed them with straw.
You know, something for between him
and the cold floor.
Hey, Togo.
I made something for you.
Well, go on. Give it a try.
Go on.
Thank you, Dan.
Have a seat. I'll bring you some coffee.
Uh, no. No, I mean, I'd love to,
but I have my own dogs to attend,
so thank you.
Sepp.
[Mayor] Morning, Dan.
- Knock-knock.
- Hello, Mayor. Come in.
That all right, then?
Sepp, thank you so much.
[woman 1] We appreciate
everything you've done for us.
[woman 2] Ever so grateful, Mr. Seppala.
- [woman 3] Thank you so much.
- [Constance] Thank you.
[knocking on door]
[Constance groans]
No, it's too much.
Hi, Sally. Hello, Dev.
Won't you please come in?
- [Seppala] For me?
- [Sally] Mm-hmm.
[Sally] It's Togo.
Thank you.
Father carved it, but I painted it.
Well, it's a brilliant likeness, Sally.
Thank you.
[whispers] He likes his ears.
Another man would be enjoying all this
but not a private man like yourself.
Am I right?
[Constance whispering]
Do you think he stayed warm outside?
I wouldn't have come myself
if not for her insistence.
- But she wanted to see him...
- [Constance whispering indistinctly]
and I want to be with her at every moment.
[Constance] Around the side.
- Top?
- [Constance] The top.
It's strange. You know, I...
I see her and yet...
I don't know how to describe it,
it's unworldly.
Does that make sense?
Kinda like every moment I'm with her
seems impossible yet...
yet there she is.
[Sally] Mr. Seppala...
is Togo going to die?
[Constance] Leonhard. Leonhard.
Um, excuse me.
I have cake for you both so please stay.
- Okay.
- Please.
Leonhard, come back inside and apologize.
They're guests in our home.
Apologize for me.
She meant no ill by it.
She's just a child.
I know. She spoke the truth.
No, don't say that. He's on the mend.
It's not winter lameness.
He doesn't have a bad paw.
You know. You've seen it before.
Well, could another dog have lead?
We'll never know.
Well, I think you should consider a world
where Dev has no child
and I have no husband.
Everything you ever tried to warn me about
has come true.
I have run him to death.
I have.
And I'm not at all prepared.
[sniffs]
[barking]
[whimpering]
[whines]
Be safe.
[Togo whining]
[Seppala inhales]
I have to go.
I have to go to work.
Forgive me.
[whining]
Togo. Togo! Hey. Come.
[dogs barking]
- Togo! Hey! Come.
- [barking]
Come now.
Togo, come now. Come.
Togo! Come. Calm down.
Hike up!
Quiet!
[barking stops]
[Togo barking]
Okay. Hike!
[barking continues]
[whining]
[barking continues]
Togo, you want some bacon?
Good boy. Tog...
No! No, no, no, no.
No! Togo! Hey!
Hey! Togo!
Togo! Togo, come!
Togo!
Togo!
Togo!
Whoa!
[sighs]
[Seppala] It was foolish of me
to think Togo would ever be denied.
I always thought he lived for the sled.
When all along, what he lived for was me.
We resumed the trail.
We discovered a walk was as good as a run.
As always, Constance was right.
Togo had the heart of a survivor.
Not the storm of the century,
nor a harrowing serum run could stop him.
He lived out his golden years
with a new job...
father.
[puppies barking]
For two years he sired pups.
[growling]
While the lower 48 celebrated Balto,
mushers from all over the world
elbowed to get one of Togo's line.
Kennels from Fairbanks to Maine
bred what came to be known
as Seppala Siberians.
A breed valued for their intelligence,
stamina, courage,
but most of all, their good nature
and uncommon bond with humans.
He left us on a Thursday in December.
Constance and I continued
working with dogs
because if you're around them
long enough...
Whoa!
...they tend to get under your skin.
And if you're lucky enough
to have known a great one,
they never really leave.
They stay with you as long as you live.
Harnessed to your heart,
giving their all...
Hike!
Always.