The nuns of one of the Nara temples have misplaced an imperial concubine. Concerned about her well-being, the emperor dispatches Akitada to find her. Akitada decides to take along his new wife, hoping to combine a trivial matter with a belated honeymoon. Alas, murder intervenes. An old man dies in the snow. A nun is fished out of an icy river. Another nun is bludgeoned to death. What had looked like a pleasant excursion quickly turns into one of Akitada's most shocking and dangerous cases.