On the outskirts of a Montana frontier town, a fugitive risks his life to protect a mother and her son. The miners, innocents all, didn't recognize the beast that stalked in their midst until an early blizzard stripped them of shelter and food. They huddled in one tent, listening to the winter winds sing of their deaths. Hunger stalked these men, felling them one by one. Miles Standish is on the run, an innocent man accused of unspeakable crimes. The Moose Creek Cannibal, as he is known, seeks refuge in an isolated cabin near the hardscrabble town of Last Chance, Montana. Hoping to lie low, he is pulled instead into the lives of his neighbors, Iona and her son Arch. He soon learns that they too are victims of those eager to believe lies rather than seek the truth. Meanwhile, Samuel Bodner, the only other person to survive the freezing hell at the Moose Creek Mine, relentlessly stalks the Moose Creek Cannibal. The pursuit has so dominated Miles's every waking moment that he sometimes wonders if Bodner's gruesome allegations might actually be true. As he comes to care deeply for Iona and Arch, Miles must decide if he is willing to sacrifice his freedom in order to save his friends from the evil visited on them.
