Big Hans finds the Pedersen kid suffering from frostbite out in the snow and brings him into the kitchen to Ma. Following instructions, though reluctantly, Jorge goes to get snow and brings it inside in boxes, and Big Hans and Ma begin rubbing it on the child. Jorge is told to wake up his Pa to find his whisky, but he refuses, knowing Pa is probably still drunk, hates being woken up, and won't sacrifice any of his whisky even if it means saving a kid. Jorge finally goes, and, just like he thought, his Pa only hits him on the side of head and goes back to sleep. Finally, Ma reveals that she found one of his hiding spots and gets the whisky herself. Together, Jorge, Ma, and Big Hans pour the whisky down the kid's throat. While holding the child, however, Jorge becomes disgusted and insists that the child is already dead. Jorge then leaves while Hans stays with the kid. When Jorge returns, Big Hans tells him that the kid has woken up. According to the child, a man with a gun locked his family in a cellar, which is why he ran out in the storm, looking for help. The kid is now asleep in Hans's bed, but Jorge doesn't believe Hans or the kid's story, if he is even alive. Jorge tells Hans that if he believes the kid's story, he should go see for himself, since he's worried about saving people. Before long, Pa wakes up and asks who found his whisky. Jorge and Hans bicker back and forth, not wanting to reveal it was Ma but not wanting to take the blame, either. Finally, Hans admits it was Ma, and Pa kicks a glass of whisky across the room. Pa, Big Hans, and Jorge hitch a sleigh to their horse and set off through the snow for the Pedersen's place. Pa and Hans have both brought their guns, in case the kid's story is true, and Jorge is given one of Hans's guns as well. When the horse falls in the snow and part of the sleigh breaks, Big Hans makes Jorge get out of the sleigh. Jorge struggles to lead the horse out, walking through snow almost up to his waist. When the horse finally moves forward, Pa drops his bottle of whisky and then makes Jorge look for it, though he is cold and bitter that he is the one out in the snow. Soon, Hans joins Jorge in the snow to help fix the sleigh. When the horse finally begins to move again, they hear a bottle break, and Pa realizes that Hans found the bottle and left it hidden in the snow. When they reach the Pedersen's house, Pa, Hans, and Jorge realize there is no smoke coming from the chimney. If someone was home they would have a fire going because of the cold, so they assume the house is empty and figure they should turn back. Jorge soon falls in the snow, however, and sees a horse's hoof sticking up near the place that he fell. Hans insists it must be the Pedersen's horse, but Pa and Jorge remember the Pedersen's horse is black, not brown. Jorge begins to feel delirious from the cold and points his gun at the two men, threading to shoot Hans. He then has a memory of killing his Ma, Pa, and Big Hans back at his house. Jorge continues to threaten Hans until Pa takes the gun from him and gets him back to the sleigh to warm up. When Jorge begins to feel better, he finds Pa and Big Hans digging a tunnel to the front door of the Pedersen's barn. Hans is afraid to go around the back, since the man the Pedersen kid saw with the gun could then shoot them from the upstairs window. Jorge tells them that digging the tunnel won't be any use because they won't be able to finish it, and so they decide to risk going through the back. When Pa, Big Hans, and Jorge make it to the barn, they find no one, but they see the Pedersen's horse. Pa realizes that if the man had left, he would have taken the Pedersen's horse, since his was buried out in the snow. Jorge decides the man must still be there, and the three make their way to the side of the house. When Jorge reaches the wall, he hears gunshots. Eventually, Jorge reaches a window, which he breaks and crawls through, landing in the basement. Jorge wanders around the house, growing more delirious. He imagines the Pedersen family dead and frozen in the cellar, or buried somewhere out in the snow. He then hears a door slam in the house above him. He thinks he sees a horse out in the snow, but he is not sure. He remembers the summertime, working in the field with Pa and Bigs Hans. Before long, Pa and Hans began to dislike each other, and they got into terrible fights. He imagines the man with the gun finding Ma at the house, and Big Hans too if he had managed to make it back, and the Pedersen kid naked and thawing from the cold. Eventually, Jorge makes a fire, and from the kitchen he sees Pa buried out in the snow.