Wild with guilt and anger over her failing marriage, Maggie Ryder escapes to the safety of an Illinois farmhouse during a full-blown blizzard. Maggie has been hired by the owners to do some stencil painting in the dining room. But why aren't Louise and Sid Shaw not home to welcome her?

Maggie risked her life driving through the harrowing storm and doesn't mind being alone in the warmth and safety of the house. Not at first.

But then a stranger walks down the stairs and into the kitchen. He says he's Ian Shaw, Louise and Sidney's son, and that his parents headed upstate ahead of the storm to visit their daughter.

Snowbound with him for six days and nights, isolated by ground blizzards and impassable country roads, Maggie forms a headstrong attachment to the talented and amusing young man.

When they leave the house together, Maggie is caught up in mysteries of theft and unexplained deaths. She questions Ian's identity, what crimes he might have committed, and how much her impulsive loyalty to him will cost her in the end.