An enquiry following an avalanche which destroyed a small New Zealand mining town, reveals a divided community which had ignored all danger signals. Ian Ballard, the young managing director of the mine, finds his career and even his life, depends upon his ability to clear his name. A million tons of snow and a hundred thousand tons of air were on the move, plunging down towards the mists of the valley. By the time the mist was reached, the avalanche was moving at over two hundred miles per hour. The air blast hit the mist and squirted it aside violently to reveal, only momentarily, a few buildings. A fraction of a second later, the main body of the avalanche hit the valley bottom. The white death had come to Hukahoronui