Packing his bear talisman in a special box, the herdsman sets off on an epic journey involving a snipey sprite, a one eyed bear and a mysterious woman. But before these characters appear, the man, his dog and a large herd of reindeer trek off into the wild, taking the route that allows his deer to eat a special lichen along the way – hence the book’s name. Various woodland animals meet sticky ends to feed the travellers, in Kolakovic's typically unsentimental way, and when a huge bear attacks one of the deer he gets an arrow in his eye from the herdsman.
At one point while bathing in a lake, the herdsman spots a woman by the shore, but he’s too shy to approach her. He carves another talisman of her to join the one of a bear in his box. Is there a connection between her and the giant bear that may now be following them? The herdsman’s worship of the bear figure opens up possibilities of a world connected in unusual ways.