Michael Portillo heads for the last frontier of the United States, armed with his 1899 Appleton’s 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.

Armed with his 1899 Appleton’s Guidebook to Alaska, Michael Portillo rides the Alaska Railroad north to explore the remote former goldrush settlement of Talkeetna. Deep in the forest outside town, Michael gets a taste of the pioneering spirit of early 20th-century prospectors and settlers from a modern day 'homesteader' and helps fell a tree to clear land for a log cabin. From Talkeetna, Michael joins intrepid fellow passengers aboard the Hurricane Turn, the last 'flag stop' train in the United States, waving them off as they alight in the middle of bear country to fish, raft and camp. He continues by rail to admire the snow-capped mountains and glaciers and to cross the gorge on the spectacular Hurricane Gulch Bridge. In the six-million-acre Denali National Park, which is crowned by the highest peak in the United States, Michael discovers how photographers a hundred years ago captured the beauty of the Alaskan landscape.

Michael Portillo embarks on a second spectacular rail journey through Alaska into Canada on the White Pass and Yukon railway. Arriving in Skagway by seaplane from railwayless Juneau, Michael heads first for Dyea and the Chilkoot trail, which the first gold prospectors hiked 100 years ago to the Klondike. Among them, he discovers, was author Jack London, whose stories of sled dogs captured the spirit of the gold rush. In the puppy pen of a sled dog training camp, a dog musher tells Michael how huskies helped to build Alaska and gives him an insight into how the dogs continue to work and race today. Boarding the 52-mile railway, built in 1898, which climbs 2,600 feet before dropping to the head of Canada’s Lake Bennett, Michael looks forward to beautiful scenery on a railway laden with history. At the lake, Michael meets an indigenous guide to hear of the role of First Nations people in the stampede for gold.

Michael Portillo explores British Columbia, steered by his Appleton’s 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’s 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,

Clutching his 1899 Appleton’s Guide, Michael Portillo boards one of the world’s most famous trains, the Rocky Mountaineer, to cross the backbone of the North American continent from Kamloops to the spa resort of Banff. This magnificent journey takes him to the highest point of the 19th-century transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway line at Kicking Horse Pass, past Lake Louise and inside spiral tunnels blasted through the mountains. Along the way, Michael hears of the harsh and dangerous conditions endured by the Chinese and European labourers who built the railway. He looks back at the historic driving of the Last Spike, which completed the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885. Reaching Banff, Michael follows his Appleton’s guide to the luxurious Banff Spring Hotel, built by the railway company. By Sulphur Mountain, he explores an underground hot spring discovered by railway workers in 1883 and learns how it prompted the creation of Canada’s first national park.

Michael Portillo begins a new journey on the tracks of the Ocean line to explore Canada’s maritime provinces en route to Quebec City. Clutching his 1899 Appleton’s Guide to Canada, he begins in the Atlantic port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he discovers an 18th-century British hilltop citadel, manned at the time of his guide by the 78th Highland Regiment. Michael joins the men who recreate the roles of those Scottish soldiers today. At the mercy of the young 'sergeant major', Michael learns the drill in kilt and sporran. Michael follows his Appleton’s to a vast Victorian dry dock, still in use today by shipbuilders for the Royal Canadian Navy and finds out what it takes to build a state-of-the-art Arctic Patrol vessel. He learns of a catastrophic explosion in Halifax harbour in 1917, which killed 2,000 people and left 25,000 homeless. Former residents of an African-Canadian community torn in two by the railway tell Michael of their struggle for redress.

Clutching his 1899 copy of Appleton’s Guide to Canada, Michael Portillo travels on the Ocean train from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick. Along the way, he investigates the world’s biggest tide at Hopewell Rocks and admires its dramatic rock formations and caves. Michael apparently defies gravity on a magnetic hill in a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville. North of Moncton in Miramichi, he joins the Elsipogtog First Nation in a pow wow, where he learns about quilting and traditional dress. In Amherst, Michael investigates the history of an ambitious ship railway designed to ferry ships by rail over the isthmus between the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait. He quarries highly-prized Wallace sandstone for a 150-year-old family firm.

Michael Portillo explores the province of Quebec with his 19th-century Appleton’s Guide to Canada. He takes the fabulously scenic Charlevoix train along the north bank of the mighty St Lawrence River to La Malbaie. Following his guidebook to the beautiful basilica at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, Michael discovers the racks of crutches discarded by the healed and meets modern-day visitors in search of miracles. The Train de Charlevoix, built to transport pilgrims, now conveys tourists along the north bank of the St Lawrence River to the Murray lakes. Michael tours the fine 19th-century houses, which were once the haunt of the Gatsby generation. Taking to the skies in a seaplane, Michael flies over the Laurentian Mountains to land on an isolated lake, where he fishes for trout for his supper.

Steered by his 1899 Appleton’s Guide, Michael Portillo strikes west across Manitoba into the province of Saskatchewan. High above the prairie at Riding Mountain, Michael discovers how a middle-class British boy from Hastings transformed himself into an influential indigenous naturalist called Grey Owl. Deep in the prairie, Michael finds a network of railways that once served the wheat farmers of Saskatchewan and learns how communities grew up around the grain elevators used to load the crop on to rail wagons. The Wheatland Express welcomes a new recruit to the sidings on the afternoon shift. At Manitou Beach, Michael reaches the Dead Sea of Canada, a 14-mile lake three times saltier than the ocean. A Yellow Quill First Nations elder tells Michael about the healing properties of the water, and Michael tries it for himself.

Michael Portillo continues west through the Canadian Prairie on his thousand-mile rail journey from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Jasper, Alberta. Following his 1899 Appleton’s guide, Michael explores a glossy, glassy, oil-rich Edmonton, second city of Alberta. On the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, he travels three centuries back in time to experience the life of les voyageurs, who travelled huge distances within Canada by foot and canoe to trade fur with indigenous people. Michael admires Edmonton’s early 20th-century heritage streetcars, preserved by the Radial Railway Society, and seizes the chance to drive one across a spectacular high-level bridge over the North Saskatchewan River. Edmonton prides itself on its modern light rail system, offering rapid transit to 80 million passengers per year. Michael hears how this growing city plans to keep pace. His journey across Canada’s vast open spaces reaches a dramatic scenic conclusion in the Rocky Mountains.