Thirteen people at a table is a bad omen. So the reception that Lord Ayvling hosted at his country estate ended very tragically: the corpse of a stranger was found in the room. But who is this man? Why was he killed? Maybe for the owner of the house or some of the guests he was not a stranger at all? However, who is the killer then - a fashionable detective writer, a famous artist, a scandalous journalist, an elderly millionaire? Inspector Kendall begins an investigation... Passengers forced to get off a train stuck in the snow on Christmas night, just like in a fairy tale, find themselves in a strange house where there is not a soul, but the fireplace is blazing, and the table is set for a cozy tea party... However, very soon the fairy tale turns into a nightmare , because the mysterious house in which the travelers found refuge turned out to be the scene of a brutal crime. Whose corpse lies in the snow in the yard? And does the mysterious disappearance of the owners have anything to do with this murder?