The war is in its third year. No help is coming. America is no more. Brad Stone could not escape the image of his first wife's mangled body in the opening days of the invasion. Now he cannot escape the image of seeing her alive two years later, and in the company of General Zhang. Youngmi has physically recovered from the attempt on her and General Zhang's lives, but her heart is another matter as the war pushes her further from her husband, closer to her lover, and deeper into the abyss. The scouts of Troop 104 are half their one-time strength, and once again homeless. Now they are moving north, in search of the man they'd heard of: the Ice Hammer. Ben Stone has grown into a capable leader, his younger brother Ian, a bloodthirsty monster. The family is being pushed ever nearer to being reunited while Brad and the Chiknik Rangers plan their most ambitious mission to date, throwing their full strength against General Zhang's forces before they get too close to the thousands of refugees under his protection, in this daring conclusion to Ice Hammer.