Twelve-year-old cousins Alice and Sophie are a study in contrasts. Alice is tall and athletic with brunette hair, she lives in Montreal with just her dad, and she's a figure skater with a lot of talent and a bit of an attitude. Sophie is short and blonde and she lives on a dairy farm just south of the city, with her mom and dad and her spooky little brother Sebastian, and she loves nothing so much as looking after their herd of cows. Their differences kept the cousins from getting along in the past but now, ever since Alice's mom passed away, they have been best friends.

Then, in January, it starts to rain and it just won't stop. Of course, it turns to ice as it hits the ground, and causes big trouble. First, the roads are closed, then the power lines start coming down and the electricity is gone. Alice struggles to stay warm alone in the dark, because her dad works for Quebec Hydro and is working around the clock. Meanwhile Sophie is with her family fighting to look after their dairy cows without the benefit of power to run the water pumps, the milking machines or anything else.

Two different girls have to find the strength within themselves to survive their drastic situations. Penny Draper takes readers into the lives and hearts of two very real characters at the same time as she takes them into a very real disaster from the recent past.