Maine game warden Mike Bowditch has been sent into exile,transferred to a remote outpost on the Canadian border. When a blizzard descends on the coast, Bowditch is called to the isolated home of a terrified couple. A raving and half-frozen man has appeared at their door, claiming his friend is lost in the storm. But what starts as a rescue mission in the wilderness soon becomes a baffling murder investigation. The dead man is a notorious drug dealer, and state police detectives suspect it was his own friend who killed him. Bowditch isnt so sure, but his vow not to interfere in the case is tested when he finds himself attracted to a woman with a dark past and a troubled young son. The boy seems to know something about what really happened in the blizzard, but he is keeping his secrets locked in a cryptic notebook, and Mike fears for the safety of the strange child.