IT HAS BEEN A BRUTALLY COLD WINTER in the New Hampshire coastal town of Rye Harbor, leaving drifts of sea water frozen solid in the salt marsh. Finally, the weather warms enough for the ice to begin to break up and float out to sea. That's when a woman's body is found under a slab of ice left by the outgoing tide. Max, the feisty redheaded bartender at Ben's Place, recognizes that the body in the ice is her aunt's partner. This triggers a series of events that will eventually threaten Max's life as well. It is up to her best friend, Jack Beale, to unravel the mystery.