Blizzards, tundra, Eskimos, bush pilots, and bingo-loving grandmas enliven this literate ethnic mystery starring Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active, who has been assigned to the remote Arctic town of Chukchi. Though born an Inupiat Eskimo, Active was raised in Anchorage by white parents and has little knowledge of his native culture. Grace Palmer, a local beauty queen, goes missing and the state trooper mounts a search that ultimately leads him halfway across Alaska. However, he discovers evidence that points to an agonising situation: she is either dead, or she is a cold-blooded killer.