The management of a ski resort blatantly ignores a local expert's warning that a mass of snow has build up which is just waiting to come down the ski slopes in a terrible avalanche. Instead of clearing the endangered area, skiers are allowed to remain 'for the rest of the day'. Nature doesn't wait till after business hours, so the crystallized wave rushes down and crushes everything on its path, including a brand new hotel; among the guests is the architect Michael Cooper's own family, which now tries to remember the plans well enough to find the way out, as he tries to instruct the rescue operation above, where a second, even larger avalanche is expected.