Plot summary

Smilla Jaspersen, a transplanted Greenlander, lives in Copenhagen. A young boy falls to his death from the roof of her apartment building; his death is ruled an accident, yet Smilla, an expert on ice and snow, can tell from his footprints that he was running from someone. Smilla begins her own investigation, forming an uneasy friendship (and perhaps a romance) with her neighbor, a mechanic. Smilla uncovers a trail of clues, leading her towards a secretive corporation that has made several mysterious expeditions to Greenland. What are they looking for? Were they somehow responsible for the boy's death? We'll find the answer on Gela Alta, a frozen island off Greenland's western coast.—Marty Cassady