Toru, a university student, joins his girlfriend Mari at her uncle's pension Spool in the mountains of Nagano prefecture during a blizzard, hoping the trip will finally move their relationship forward. But the guests are an odd assortment — including a sunglasses-wearing man named Tanaka who seems to be avoiding attention — and the mood turns lethal when a note warns that someone will die at midnight. When Tanaka is found dismembered and the phone lines go dead, every person at Spool becomes a suspect. The blizzard makes escape impossible and police unreachable. With a second murder and then a third following in rapid succession, Toru is forced to investigate — not only to protect Mari, but to identify the killer before the bodycount rises further.