Inspector Rocco Schiavone hates everything about the mountain resort of Aosta -- the cold, the mountains, the far-offness and above all the snow; unfortunately for him, that's exactly where his first case takes him.

Rocco searches for a motive for the murder of a man who was run over by the snow cat; Rocco's old Roman pal Sebastiano tips him off about a marijuana transport.

An unorthodox Italian police commissioner finds himself transferred to a mountain station far from his beloved Rome.

While everything points towards the two young burglars Helmi and Fabio, Rocco can't bring himself to believe they would turn into murderers just for a few pieces of Ester Baudo's jewelry.

Rocco finds himself with two additional cases, on top of his private troubles with his lover Nora; one is the case of Ludovico Venier, a man who fell to his death while mountaineering with his partners.

Rocco must spend the night with Italo in a refuge, a base camp atop a mountain, for the victim's two partners to turn up so he can catch them trying to destroy evidence.