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Michael Portillo explores British Columbia, steered by his Appleton鈥檚 Guide to Canada, published in 1899. He discovers how two superpowers nearly came to war over a pig and joins the Royal Canadian Navy to firefight on board the frigate HMCS Regina.

Starting on Vancouver Island, Michael explores the rich British heritage and colonial past of the provincial capital of British Columbia, Victoria. He discovers the origins of the immensely powerful fur-trading enterprise, the Hudson鈥檚 Bay Company and, in the affluent James Bay area of Victoria, he finds the former home of an early 20th-century artist who documented the art and culture of the indigenous people of the western coast, Emily Carr.

At Saanichton, Michael helps to carve a 36-foot totem pole in the studio of a present-day First Nations artist. In the wilderness of British Columbia, Michael learns how to head off a charging bear and holds on tight in a sidewinder while Canadian lumberjacks nudge tons of logs along the water to a sawmill.

Striking east on the transcontinental railway, Michael stops first in Mission City, gold rush country in the 19th century but also a centre for the conversion by Catholic missionaries of the local indigenous population. Michael hears the tragic stories of First Nations children forcibly separated from their families and learns how Canada is facing up to the past.

From Kamloops, Michael follows his Appleton鈥檚 to the wild wooded hills above the city, where his guidebook tells him he may find grizzly, black and brown bears. Michael learns what bears like to eat and is thrilled to see how they live in the wild.