The dead of winter has hit the heartland. It's thirty below zero and all anyone has to look forward to in Nation County, Iowa, is an evening's entertainment aboard the "Colonel Beauregard", a floating casino docked a short drive away on the Mississippi River. With his friend and partner Hester Gorse pulling security duty on the "Beauregard", it's left to Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman to keep Nation County's criminals in check. In Carl's experience, though, crime takes a holiday when the mercury falls. All he has on the docket is a series of small-time burglaries at backwood farms and the occasional speeding ticket.
But the men lying low at a nearby compound have much bigger plans than petty ante robbery. They're waiting for a break in the weather to pull off a masterful million-dollar siege of the state's biggest economic asset. And Hester, trapped on the "Beauregard", is directly in the line of fire.
While desperately trying to maintain his jurisdiction and control of the investigation, Carl has to plan for disaster relief, lobby the FBI for a team of SWAT sharpshooters, hold the media at bay and save Hester's life, before the temperature rises for the big thaw . . .
