Nothing ever happens in the Winter holidays - except polar expeditions, mountain resuces, blizzards and ice sailing. Dick and Dorothea are newcomers to the lake, and they have to prove their worth to the team as the Swallows and Amazons sweep them into a wild adventure.
'You know what it's like. Dark at teatime and sleeping indoors: nothing ever happens in the winter holidays.' Or so Nancy thinks. Then the lake ices over completely and the Swallows and Amazons, along with Dick and Dorothea -- 'the D's' -- plan a race to find the North Pole. How will they reach it if they can't sail? By sledges of course! But when a blizzard blows up and there is a mix up about signals, the D's disappear into the Arctic night. Disaster looms. Can the Swallows and Amazons save their friends?