Three members of the family: young Dan Lind and his relatives, Ingrid Lind and Ulvhedin Paladin, set out on a perilous journey north to the forgotten Valley of the Ice People. Dan seeks knowledge and discovery, but Ingrid and Ulvhedin are after something far more dangerous. They hunt the legendary mandrake, the gallows flower, a magical root said to grow only where executions have taken place.