Rebelling against the expectations of her middle-class upbringing, Aurora has dropped out of pre-med at Princeton with the illusion that she is going to make a life with her boyfriend. Instead, when Joe leaves her to pursue his career, she ends up isolated in a remote, unforgiving part of the Pacific Northwest. Naive, oblivious to the consequences of her promiscuity, Aurora endures through the winter by trading her body for companionship. Lyrically depicted, the moon, the snow portrays people driven to extremes in an environment where the landscape dwarfs human concerns."