The end of the Madrid Protocol is at hand. Due to extreme pressure from the United States, the United Nations calls an emergency assembly. The U.S. is asking for a twelve-year extension to the Treaty of Antarctica and is threatening global warfare if China starts mining for natural resources.

In Oxford, Simon, a professor of material physics, receives news that his father has passed away—but no explanation is given. Eight years prior, in 2040, the U.S. government asked his father to go on an extended secret scientific exploration of Antarctica. No one imagined he would never return.

Simon, determined to discover what has become of his father, begins the journey of a lifetime—into frigid Antarctica, a chilling conspiracy, and a hidden secret no man could fathom.