When Mitch Mitchell and his buddy, photographer Alan Jeffrey, receive a hot tip on a bone-chilling day in March, they arrive on the scene of an apparent missing-persons case, neither knowing quite what they've gotten themselves into. Mitch, hoping to keep his job at the Daily Dispatch in the midst of proposed layoffs, investigates the case in an attempt to crack it—like the ice on the St. Croix in spring—wide open. While the sheriff is at risk of losing his patience, the intrepid reporter risks losing his girlfriend to the plains of Fargo, not to mention his job and his life. Can Mitch solve the case before the melting St. Croix destroys all the evidence?