The narrator pursues a woman through a wasteland in hopes of saving her from the impending fimbulwinter. The woman, dreading abandonment relentlessly flees him, latching onto any rung that will escape his grasp, even if that rung is abuse, just as long as it's faithful.

The narrator slips into anxious, hallucinogenic daydreams, manifesting imagistic fears of his quarry dying in the cold, or being sacrificed by the masses to stave off the apocalypse. The lines between the external reality and these tangents can be difficult to parse in the beginning, but they seem to be employed less as the novel goes on. Kavan's language is exquisite, and somehow makes descriptions of the cold uniquely fresh on every page. The external climate and frozen onslaught mirrors the oppressive obsession and fear in the characters.

The woman's fears aren't unwarranted, either; once the narrator finally has her and they enjoy a respite in a warm climate, he abandons her to go on fighting in wars before returning to his pursuit as the ice closes in on the world. Overall, it's a great exploration of the psychology of someone obsessing over saving someone and following it to horrific conclusions when they're not ready or willing to bear the brunt and work of that responsibility.