Doug and Jill Fletcher are dispatched to the Black Hills when a missing camper's mutilated body is discovered in a remote part of Wind Cave National Park. Jill searches remote portions of Wind Cave for the victim's missing companion while Doug tries to determine their identities.

The park investigation revelations pull them into a local crime and put their lives at risk. A prairie blizzard brings everything in Western South Dakota to a stop as the pieces of the mysteries start to fall into place.

The stay at Jill's family ranch takes an unexpected turn when Doug's mother is invited for Christmas.