High on the Big Stone Heart is a collection of colourful, insightful essays that explore the new realities of Northwestern Ontario, in particular Thunder Bay and the north shore of Lake Superior. Wilkins, having personal experience with influences that shape the lives of northerners, skillfully reveals the new faces of the North, including, among others, Brenda Small, a Native feminist and a progressive voice in education; Graham Kardash and his high-tech paleo-DNA lab; and the five Staal brothers, the champagne toast of the modern NHL.

Experience Wilkins's timely, often humorous forays into the more traditional fascinations of the area: boatbuilding, boreal forests, the massive rocky terrain, caribou herds, and the north "coast" of Lake Superior, with its historic village life and mysteries. Follow the writer into the mystique of the wilderness and out onto the Trans-Canada Pipeline, one of the world’s foremost (but least known) viewing sites for wildlife.