November in the Wisconsin bluff country of Fort St. Antoine is much too cold for deputy sheriff Claire Watkins to dive into the frigid waters of Lake Pepin to pull a man from a submerged automobile. The victim is Buck Owens, apparently tied by his neck to the driver's seat while his car sank through the thin ice.

Claire had seen Buck's girlfriend, Stephanie Klaus, earlier that week, her face badly bruised. Claire doesn't suspect her of his murder -- but does think whoever did this to Stephanie killed Buck, as well. When Stephanie is found beaten again nearly to death and too terrified to talk, Claire makes a shocking discovery that puts a face on the killer. But a fierce storm has descended--making justice all that more dangerous in a blinding white world with no mercy for the living . . .or the dead.