A new ice age has begun on Earth. Through the icy expanses of a dying planet, people travel on powerful ice ships. The main character of the novel, Konrad Arflane, the captain of such an ice schooner, saves the life of the Lord of Frisgalt, the largest of the cities. And he, in gratitude, provides Arflane with a new ice ship and offers to organize an expedition to search for the legendary New York - the city of the Ice Mother, the goddess-mistress of the ice, the patroness of the harsh and in many ways cruel people living in the ice. But people's morals are softening. Konrad Arflane wants to find the Ice Mother to find out what is really going on.