1897: As explorers and scientists scramble to conquer the North Pole, Nils Strindberg, with fellow adventurers S. A. Andree and Knut Fraenkel, takes up the challenge. Setting flight in a hydrogen balloon, Nils leaves his fiance Anna and his brother Erik behind in Stockholm anxiously hoping for his return. 1930: When the men's remains are discovered on the frozen island of Kvit ya, the news makes headlines around the world. Brash young journalist Knut Stubbendorff is sent to report from the site and uncovers, among the debris, journals filled with love letters from Nils to Anna. Wanting to know more about the man who left his love to embark on a journey that was doomed from the start, Stubbendorff is determined to find her. . . but Anna doesn t want to be found. In a search that reveals lost loves, deceit and long-buried secrets, Stubbendorff discovers a story that has stayed hidden for decades and the people who have been concealing it.