Simone Bonnaire, a young French woman who lives in Tahoe, has a sadistic boyfriend who abuses her. Simone's only friend is Cynthia Rorvik, an older woman who provides comfort. When Cynthia falls from her deck and ends up in a coma, her 92-year-old, former Olympic ski racer husband Joe Rorvik calls Tahoe Detective Owen McKenna and asks him to investigate. McKenna discovers a string of deaths that look like accidents. But he can find no other connection between them until he learns that all of the victims opposed a new, proposed ski resort development in Tahoe. As McKenna gets closer to a devious killer, he realizes that Simone is to be the next victim. But McKenna can't save her because she has left on a solo ski trek into the Desolation Wilderness, and she is unreachable except by the killer who has been following her and has already begun his final chase...