An Alaskan youth goes hunting and falls into the hands of the Iniquisition, whose brutal methods ironically help him discover his faith. Based on a true story.

Okay, but Northern California isn't Alaska and far from it.

And why would a mere kid be subject to the Inquisition rather than, say, the standard m.o. of conversion at the point of a sword?

>>the goal shifts in the second act from a physical hunt to a spiritual one

Wouldn't his 2nd act objective goal be to escape and get back to his family and tribe?

Around 1815, the Russians and Spanish were competing for Northern California and the sealskin trade there. It's true that the goal shifts in the second act from a physical hunt to a spiritual one as the conflict becomes about faith, not just seals.

As Richiev said. In scenarios of suffering and persecution, subjective discoveries (like faith) come as byproducts of the ordeal. It's not what the protagonist intentionally or originally seeks.

What I don't understand is why the Inquisition would seek to single out a mere kid. It was common practice for the European invaders to compel the natives to convert to their brand of Xianity. But having the Inquisition single out an Alaskan kid when Alaska was originally a Russian conquest and the state religion of Russian was Orthodox -- not Catholic? How did the reach of the Catholic Inquisition extended to Orthodox Alaska? What's the historical time frame of the story?