Policeman Peter Glebsky, heads on holiday to the Dead Mountaineer's Inn, a ski resort hotel in a small resort in a secluded valley in the Alps. On his arrival he meets the other guests: Mr. Moses, a rich old man with highly eccentric manners and his stunningly beautiful wife; Mr. du Barnstocre, an illusionist who is accompanied by Brun, his niece; Mr. Simonet, an obsessive physicist; Mr. Hinckus, a custodial attorney; and Olaf Andvarafors. Then an avalanche blocks them in and a dead body is discovered and it is up to Peter to find out who did it.