Set in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado, this is the tale of a snowbound mountain town with a remarkable secret to protect from outsiders - a secret worth dying for, and perhaps worth killing for. Dennis Conway, New York criminal lawyer, has moved to Colorado to marry Sophie, the beautiful mayor of the 9,000-feet-high secluded hamlet of Springhill. When his new in-laws are charged with hunting down and murdering two of their close friends, Dennis is shocked, disbelieving, and he defends Sophie's parents at trial in Aspen. What he learns in the course of his investigation is a stunning portrait of social contract in the interests of longevity - a love story, a murder story, and a skiing story with the most remarkable avalanche scene ever written.