Professor Ada Logan is wrestling with her new role as a mother. Exhausted, flooded with postpartum hormones, and under pressure from her University, Ada is forced to admit that her first months of motherhood aren't going well. Ada's husband promises her he will handle the situation. However, Ada is shocked to learn that his solution is to invite her mother-in-law, Pilar, to leave her home in southern Spain and stay with them in Calgary.

The day that Pilar arrives in town, the city is covered in a block of ice, and Ada discovers her neighbour, a rising, local politician, dead at the foot of his basement stairs. When Mayor Roberts orders the lead detective to back down from the investigation, Ada and Pilar step in. Sometimes collaborating, often clashing, the two women join forces to uncover the truth behind Alex Sanchez's death. In the process, they uncover the complex secrets of their neighbourhood and their city.