This time, Cole has to pay for all his supplies and has to build his own shelter. Six months later, Cole again stands before the Circle Justice and the group reluctantly gives him another chance. Garvey returns to check on Cole and takes him for medical treatment. He reaches out and touches it without understanding why the bear doesn't attack. Just when he knows that death is very near, the bear returns and stands over Cole. Cole fears he will die but manages to live by eating worms, bugs, and a mouse, and opening his mouth to the near-constant rain. The bear rips Cole to pieces, breaking bones and making it impossible for Cole to even stand. Cole is furious when the bear isn't afraid of him and he attacks it. He plans to make another swim the following day, this time using the tide to his advantage, but he has an encounter with a large white bear, the Spirit Bear. Then he tries to swim off the island but goes against the tide and is forced back to land. As soon as he is alone, he burns down the cabin built for him by Edwin and paid for by Cole's father. Cole agrees to go but doesn't plan to stay. He is to spend the time alone with the exception of routine visits by a local tribe elder, Edwin, who will bring supplies. The group agrees that Cole should spend a year on an island off the Alaskan coast. Cole sees the program as a way of avoiding jail but doesn't embrace the possibility of changing himself in the process. The program brings together criminals, victims, court officials, and members of the community along with family members and friends of anyone involved.

Garvey is a member of the Tlingit Indian tribe of Alaska and a proponent of a new program called Circle Justice. Though his parents have always paid his way out of trouble in the past, Cole is now facing real jail time for the assault.Д¬ole attracts the attention of a parole officer named Garvey. The brutal assault leaves Peter with permanent injuries and puts Cole in the legal system. When Cole finds out who turned him in, he attacks Peter. He then brags about it at school and a fellow student, Peter Driscal, tells on him. He routinely fights and feels that he has the upper hand by his sheer ability to win.Д¬ole breaks into a store where he steals and vandalizes the business.

Cole believes that everyone is making fun of him unless he makes them afraid of him. His mother witnesses the abuse but generally does nothing to stop it, leading Cole to believe that no one cares for him. He is routinely abused by his father and the abuse leads to a deep, constant anger that Cole can't control. Cole Matthews is a teenager with a troubled childhood.

Spirit bear