Simone Bonnaire, a young French woman who lives in Tahoe, has a sadistic boyfriend who abuses her. Simone's only friend is Cynthia Rorvik, an older woman who provides comfort. When Cynthia falls from her deck and ends up in a coma, her 92-year-old, former Olympic ski racer husband, Joe Rorvik, calls Tahoe Detective Owen McKenna and asks him to investigate. McKenna discovers a string of deaths that look like accidents, but he can find no other connection between them until he learns that all of the victims had opposed a new, proposed ski resort development in Tahoe.