Amanda Reynolds is mapping a large ice berg using the Deep Eye sonar system when she discovers an abandoned ice island and a world war two era submarine from Russia docked within. Deeper scans reveal bodies and a sudden blurred movement on the screen indicates life of some kind. The American research vessel Polar Sentinel has discovered the Russian Ice Station Grendel. Inside, they find research that has been buried in the ice since the Second World War. The elaborate ice station has multiple levels, and a series of ice tunnels that run throughout the massive berg. The laboratory is immediately closed off with the discovery of human research subjects suspended in liquid, and few are told of its existence. The scientists explore the station, and then go into the tunnels they call the crawlspace to take ice samples in an effort to date the berg itself. There the ice station reveals its next secret.

Matthew Pike is the Fish and Game warden. When he witnesses a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness, he grabs his horse Mariah, and goes to lend aid. The pilot is a friend, and is dead. His passenger introduces himself as reporter, Craig Teague. A second plane circles and begins dropping soldiers strapped to all weather motorcycles. Matt knows they are in trouble. He puts Craig on Mariah and heads for his camp. They don't get far before the wreck explodes and Matt knows they are covering their tracks. He sends Mariah ahead with Craig and stays behind to fight, managing to eliminate the two threats on the ground before he and Craig head for the only place Matt knows is near enough to help. His ex wife isn't at the cabin, but her father, John, greets him with a loaded shotgun. It's obvious he is yet to be forgiven. When Jennifer arrives, he pleads his case and soon after the second plane finds them again. In a frightening tale of cat and mouse, the Russians pit themselves against the Americans, each seeking to secure the research left behind at the lab.

The ice station has a few problems of its own as scientists discover and inadvertently thaw the hibernating 'walking whales' that the Russians referred to as Grendels. Hungry and angry that their ice nest has been invaded, they hunt and kill anyone they come across, but there are still more twists and turns. Would be reporter Craig Teague is actually CIA operative Delta One who is coordinating an all out offensive in an effort to secure the data that the Russians are seeking to reclaim. In an explosive finale, the original Russian researcher's son, Admiral Viktor Petkov arms a weapon designed to destabilize the entire polar ice cap and once armed, the weapon cannot be stopped. Could this mean the end of the world or will man's innate goodness find a way to prevail?