A journalist uses a remote northern reserve and their elaborate hoax to unpack the complex history of the reserve system. When a young journalist arrives in Kashechewan, a fly-in, northern Ontario reserve, to document its third-world conditions, she stumbles upon a multi-million dollar hoax. As she investigates a story that could make her career, she finds herself unable to cope with the conditions and begins to fall apart. "Hoax for a Nation" tells the story of a deceit that has until now fooled the public. To understand what happened and why, journalist Alexandra Shimo must plumb the depths of her own mental and physical collapse. The result is a stark and tender portrait of the lives of a people at the edge, and a moving tribute to what it takes to survive.