It's a Saturday, on a snowy Midwestern winter landscape, and Tony Norgard really wants to go ice fishing. But he is pressured to attend his mother-in-law's birthday party on the same day. To solve the dilemma, Tony feigns being ill and stays in bed. While his little white lie allows him the chance for a secret outing, it comes with a heavy price. Through the day, misfortune seems to meet him at every turn. When he meets up with his dad Frank, things get worse. Tony's lie seems to have put a curse on what should otherwise have been a simple day of fishing for everyone. Unaware of the charade, Tony's wife Lila happily goes about her day, sorry that her husband is at home, sick in bed, missing a great weekend of family fun. Tony befriends the spirited and very independent Stormy, a beautiful, yet rugged ice fisher woman. Stormy becomes one of the many unusual characters Tony meets in this frozen lake community of anglers.