Just before Christmas, orphaned Laura Stewart discovers that her boyfriend,Steve Fraser, is not all he seems. Hurt and angered by his deception, Laura decides to take a break and sets out for her cottage in the North of England's Penine Fells. On the way, in worsening weather conditions she catches a news flash on the car radio about a brutal killing and this increases her determination to seek refuge in her remote childhood home.

However, Laura finds her cottage occupied by a man who claims to be a stranded walker sheltering from the weather. Laura forgets her former problems when she finds herself snowed in with a man who she begins to believe could be the suspected wife killer. Constantly under threat, she soon starts to doubt her own sanity-how can you fall in love with a murderer?