Kay Westmore knew from the beginning that getting involved with a woman fifteen years younger was asking for heartbreak. Now that Stef was leaving her, Kay wasn't surprised -- just heartsick, disillusioned, and embarrassed by the end of yet another relationship. When her boss, Secretary of the Interior Grace Perry, suddenly sends Kay on a special assignment, she welcomes the opportunity -- even though the trip will require spending several weeks in Barrow, Alaska, in the dead of winter, when the Arctic Ocean town lies in total darkness and devastating cold.

But Kay can't imagine a better way to numb herself to the pain of Stef's departure. In Barrow, Kay works with Lela Newlin, an attorney with the Bureau of Land Management and a full-blooded Inupiat trusted by her people as a liaison to the government. As Lela and Kay begin to trust each other, Kay struggles against their growing attraction, afraid of yet another romantic mess. But Lela draws Kay inexorably to her, like the hottest fire on the coldest night. Deep in the Arctic darkness, as the two women discover unexpected threats to the Alaskan wilderness, sensuous Lela provides an unexpected threat to the frozen tundra of Kay's heart.