A village harboured in the Mont Blanc Massif. Lieutenant Le Kerrec, recently transferred to the region, receives an emergency call: some hikers have found a corpse in the Mer de Glace. Thanks to the papers retrieved in his overalls, the victim is identified as 35-year old Bertrand Santini. But the exhumed body is that of a 20 year old. Could he have been trapped in the ice for fifteen years! As the post-mortem reveals several bruises found by the police doctor suggest to Le Kerrec that he should not rule out a criminal investigation. Informed of the tragedy, the parents of the victim, Antoine e Isabelle, are shattered. They were convinced, as were friends and relatives, that Bertrand was still alive, that he had left for Australia to seek his fortune.