Kate Munro is a promising young Scottish writer, specialising in accounts of the most technical and daring mountain rescues. Her desire to find and recount these tales takes her to Ben Torboll, scene of a famous air crash nearly forty years ago which claimed the lives of American servicemen on the way home in 1949. At first Kate is disdainful about the people involved in the crash. But when she meets local legend and famous rescuer Neil Grant - who promises to tell her everything he can about the tragic events of that day - Kate begins to investigate in earnest. Delving deeper and deeper into the mystery, old resentments resurface and Kate becomes entangled in a web of deceit and treachery that place her life and those close to her in Jeopardy.