Gabriel McQueen has just arrived home on holiday leave from the service when his county-sheriff father sends him back out again with new marching orders. He enlists Gabriel to trek to the middle of nowhere to ensure their neighbour Lolly Helton is safe and sound. It's a trip the younger McQueen would rather not make given the bitter winter weather - and the icy conditions that have always existed between him and Lolly - but there's no talking back when your dad's the town's top cop.

Despite the treacherous weather, Gabriel gets to the house but spots strangers in Lolly's home - one of them carrying a weapon. His stealth training is all he needs to extract Lolly from the house without alerting her captors. But when the escape is discovered, the heat - and the hunt - is on. And the winter woods are not a place to be once the ice storm touches down, dropping trees, blocking roads, and trapping the fleeing pair in the freezing dark.