The film centers on Gerda, who sets off into the great unknown in search of her friend Kai, who has mysteriously vanished. On her journey, Gerda makes friends with people, birds, beasts, and a kind witch, unaware that a hostile, unseen enemy – the Snow Queen and her devil apprentice, Louie – is watching her. The evil queen keeps Kai prisoner in her ice palace way up north in Finnmark, Norway.