Jeanne Laurent known as “Snowball” was a mountaineer, who was determined to climb Mount Everest. After being caught in a storm, her father and close friend Pierre Moltaire, worried for her life, and Pierre, also an experienced mountaineer, went to find her. When in a separate incident Pierre and another guide were lost in the Swiss Alps, Snowball went to find him.
When Meg Foster’s grandfather dies, he leaves £1000 to her father on condition that a Foster climbs the dangerous north face, in the Alps. If this condition isn’t fulfilled, James Foster’s cousin, Gilbert Beck, will inherit the money. Beck secretly engineers an accident to Meg’s father and she realises that, to claim the much-needed legacy, she must climb the north face herself. She joins a party led by Nigel Brand, a noted mountaineer. Gilbert Beck has plotted with Chris Palmer, another member of the party, to make sure that Meg doesn’t succeed.
