It's late January in Loon Lake and bodies abound.

While the town of Loon Lake is hosting an International Ice Fishing Festival, Police Chief Lewellyn Ferris and her limited team are busy with the usual headaches and then some. Meanwhile, Doc Osborne is busy studying fly-casting videos in an effort to impress Lew come spring.

But a panicked call from Rob Beltner leads to a sad discovery: his wife, Kathy, is dead of a gunshot wound. Lew barely begins to investigate the shooting before she's sidetracked by the imposing figure of Patience Schumacher, president of Wheedon Technical College. Patience is certain she's being stalked, and as Lew investigates, the uncanny coincidences accumulate like snow on the frozen, deadly surface of Loon Lake.