Alison, her brother Sean, and Sean’s partner Jeff are all hiking in the Siberian Tundra. They follow two guides — a mysterious man named Eric who Alison doesn’t trust and a woman named Olga. Olga carries their supplies on a sled pulled by huskies while the four others hike in the winter snow. As they walk Alison shares her worries about Eric being untrustworthy as Sean only recently met him in a bar, however Sean defends him saying that Eric will lead them to fossils that they can hopefully profit off of. They settle for the night in some trees after a disagreement between Olga and Eric about how far to go. Alison goes to look for firewood along with one of the huskies, Zarya, and finds the carving of some language in a fallen pine tree. Zarya seems nervous and so they return to camp. Sean tries to convince Alison to sleep in a tent with Eric as there isn’t room for her in Sean and Jeff’s tent, but Alison refuses and decides to sleep with Olga and the huskies on furs out in the open. As she falls asleep she watches the northern lights and the stars in the sky.  She wakes up to the sound of tiny bells and notices that her breath is freezing, a phenomenon that Olga calls the “whisper of stars.” Everyone wakes up and Eric is acting strange and disheveled. They begin the hike for that day. As they walk Alison notices that some of the snow is melting beneath her and when they reach their location they begin to dig to look for fossils. They eventually settle down for the night and Alison once again joins Olga on the furs with the dogs. There are howls in the forest and all of the huskies seem alert and nervous.  Alison has a strange dream that she is wandering in the tundra amongst the stars. She feels like ice is cutting into her and she wakes up in darkness. She realizes that she has cried in the night and the tears have frozen her eyelids shut. She had also forgotten to put on her gloves and her hands are completely numb. She calls out for help, but nobody answers. She feels around and tries to wake up Olga, but her hands stumble across a warm liquid which she realizes is blood. She uses it to melt the ice on her eyes and sees that everyone and all of the dogs have been torn to pieces in their sleep. She assumes it was wolves who have by chance spared her, and she starts to worry how she will return home. She begins to feel like she is burning up and so she rips off all of her clothes and wanders into the forest. She begins to see eyes all around her in the snow, staring at her.