Kay Westmore knew from the beginning that getting involved with a woman fifteen years younger was asking for heartbreak. Now that Stef was leaving her, Kay wasn't surprised -- just heartsick, disillusioned, and embarrassed by the end of yet another relationship. When her boss, Secretary of the Interior Grace Perry, suddenly sends Kay on a special assignment, she welcomes the opportunity -- even though the trip will require spending several weeks in Barrow, Alaska, in the dead of winter, when the Arctic Ocean town lies in total darkness and devastating cold. But Kay can't imagine a better way to numb herself to the pain of Stef's departure.