A combination of vicious winter storms, ugly and stupid men, and son Rob and his wife coming home turn the holiday period around the Jack Slater ranch to near chaos. Short-handed and facing a winter disaster on the range, Slater also faces a cattle rustler who wants him dead and another cattle rustler who kills the sheriff and runs amok.

Normally quiet streams become raging water courses that must be crossed, deep arroyos are filled with wind driven snow, become hidden vaults of danger that men, horses, and cattle can fall into, and below zero temperatures can rip the life right out of a man if he should become wet or stranded. Slater and his crew that he calls family, face an eastern Nevada winter like none other before.

When things become almost more than the big man can handle, his wife, Mims, gives birth to twins while he's on the open range desperately trying to save part of his herd. Wood cutters, a blacksmith, and a saloon owner all come together to bring peace and quiet to the Mound Valley.

Ugly, mean, and stupid men are responsible for many deaths, for creating an atmosphere of fear and anxiety, and in the final analysis, pay the ultimate price.