Memories of a father-son road trip last a lifetime. Add an enchanting raccoon to the mix and you have one of the defining chapters in Rascal.

Sterling North and his father drive north from Edgerton to the Brule River, a clear, cold stream that winds through northern Wisconsin woods into Lake Superior. They camp along its banks, fish its sparkling current, cook over an open fire, and talk long into the evening.

Water is a through-line in Rascal, as it is throughout Wisconsin. Known as the “river of presidents,” the Brule today runs through Brule River State Forest, a canoeing and fishing destination treasured across generations, including by five U.S. presidents who came here to cast a line.

Follow the Brule north to where it meets Lake Superior. Superior is not a lake in any ordinary sense. It is an inland sea, oceanic in scope — vast, cold, and elemental. Here, gulls ride the wind above wave-swept volcanic stone, and Wisconsin echoes the rugged coast of Hokkaido.

Continue east along Superior’s southern rim toward Bayfield and the Apostle Islands, where lighthouses stand watch on rocky headlands and sandstone sea caves rise from deep blue water. In winter, the shoreline hardens into sculpted ice. In summer, tour boats, kayaks, and sailboats move quietly between forested islands.