Peter Masterson is a polar advisor to a scientific station on Antarctica's desolate Ross Ice Shelf, where engineers are experimenting with a top secret hot water boring process. Mensa Station sits in the shadow of the impassable Queen Maud Mountains not far from the mouth of the treacherous glacier known as Hell's Flow. When a Soviet polar expedition makes an unexpected and unexplained visit on their way to a mysterious rendezvous, Masterson's suspicions are aroused. A female Russian on the team wants to defect. One of their engineers is killed and a saboteur is at work in the station. Then, soon after the Soviets' departure Mensa Station is gutted by fire and the survivors, including Masterson and Russian woman are forced onto the ice of the frigid Antarctic night in a desperate race to cross the Queen Mauds and reach the rendezvous point ahead of the Soviet expedition. And there is only one route that can get them there on time: up Hell's Flow