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Michael Portillo heads for the last frontier of the United States, armed with his 1899 Appleton鈥檚 Guidebook to Alaska.

Beginning his journey amid the snow-capped mountains and ice-cold inlets of the Kenai Peninsula, Michael finds the golden onion domes of a Russian Orthodox church, along with traditional Russian food and costume and discovers that, 150 years ago, Alaska was a Russian colony.

In Seward, Michael feeds a rescued sea otter pup with a fearsome bite and learns how the luxurious pelts of these endearing creatures were once the most valuable in the world. On a boat trip around Seward Harbour, Michael hears from an indigenous former Alaskan state senator how, shortly before his guidebook was published, the Russian Empire sold Alaska to the United States.

Heading north on the Alaska Railroad past lakes and glaciers and through mountain tunnels, Michael learns what it took to build this epic 470-mile line. Reference in his Appleton鈥檚 over a century ago to climate change prompts him to explore the iceberg maze at the Spencer glacier aboard a rubber raft. In Anchorage, Michael joins the US Arctic Warriors for parachute training at joint forces base Elmendorf-Richardson. A magical encounter with cabbage fairies in Palmer teaches Michael a thing or two about growing giant vegetables close to the Arctic Circle.

In an underground sod house built from driftwood and whalebone, Michael hears how the language and traditions of indigenous people in Alaska were suppressed by the United States. After sharing a plate of smoked and dried fish with his indigenous host, he heads for the Alaska Native Heritage Centre, where athletes train for the annual World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. Michael鈥檚 chosen event is the Eskimo stick pull.