A small flower is discovered on an Iceland glacier - and just beyond it a female body, dead, frozen in the ice. When an ambitious US medical anthropologist is called in to handle things, a veil of secrecy is dropped over the body. An American ecologist, who is also currently working there, immediately suspects mischief. But, shortly after he begins an investigation himself, he goes missing on a fishing boat. His daughter, Dana, an anthropologist who has worked in Iceland, must return to Iceland to find him. She discovers that her role as a detective gives her a connection with people there that eluded her as an anthropologist and she also moves towards a real understanding of her scientist father. Dana's search weaves together a suspenseful narrative of many diverse people and stories that are not just about these people, but about Iceland and its history.