A woman, now in old age, recounts her all-female expedition to the South Pole in a journal that will be hidden away in an attic. The ship that carried the expeditionary crew was the Yelcho. This voyage was inspired by her childhood reading of Captain Scott’s previous expedition to Antarctica. Initially, the woman has trouble finding a crew due to the serious time commitment and the dangerous nature of the journey. However, she eventually finds her expeditionary crew of nine women and sets off on the Yelcho. The ship takes a longer, but more well-known, route known as the Ross Sea, which was previously crossed by Captain Scott. At first, the women are seasick, but they soon come to enjoy the voyage. After crossing through an ice pack, the ship enters the Ross Sea and eventually catches sight of the Great Ice Barrier, which they notice has lost some ice. Eventually, the crew decides to establish their base camp on the Barrier. After setting up the camp, the _Yelcho _leaves with a promise to return around February 20th. The crew then begins to make practice journeys toward the South Pole, establishing supply depots along the way. The crew splits into two separate teams. The first leaves five days ahead of the second. On the first crew’s return journey, the two teams meet up and celebrate a crewmate’s birthday. Eventually, the second team, which includes the woman, makes it to the glacier containing the South Pole, named after Florence Nightingale. On the way, one of the members of the team gets sick and must break away back to camp. Eventually, the rest of the second crew reaches the South Pole. They are disappointed by its lack of grandeur. Once the second team returns to base camp, they learn that one of the crewmates from the first team was pregnant. The baby is born before the return of the _Yelcho _and they name the baby Rosa del Sur. Their voyage to the South Pole is unknown because of their lack of footprints. Later on, an expedition led by a man named Amundsen becomes famous for reaching the South Pole.