Plot Synopsis

ESCAPING ALASKA is a one-hour reality series that follows five young people from Alaska, who leave behind their small villages in The Last Frontier and pursue their big-city dreams in San Diego. They are Inuit, Inupiaq and Yupik descendants, who are torn between their deep-rooted cultural traditions and the modern pop culture of the lower 48 states. Instead of revealing to their families that they want to leave for California to explore their independence and find work, they each create a unique cover story to deceive their families and leave home. They claim they're leaving to work on a project about Alaska's sluggish economy and the lack of jobs available for their generation, but instead they'll explore dating, working, finding new jobs, and discovering themselves in Southern California. Cameras follow Nuala, Mary, Frank, Tamara, and Qituvituag (aka Q), as they struggle to adapt to the pressures of living together outside of their comfort zone, while also staying in contact with the families they have left back home. The five young adults are: Tamara, who is from Noorvik, a tiny town that's two flights away from the nearest city, and wants to pursue her dream of acting, which isn't possible in Alaska; Frank, who works as a cargo handler at the airport in his hometown of Kotzebue, where he is his family's primary provider but feels isolated; Nuala, who lives in a small community called Barrow, where she has always wondered who she might become if she just got away from home for a while; Mary, who is passionate about caring for animals and aspires to become a veterinarian, but has nowhere at home in Tanana to get the education and training; and Q, who is from a family of shamans, spending much of his rebellious youth in a disciplinary center in his hometown of Nome.