It's not Global Warming that's heating up the frozen continent. Russia has broken the 1959 Antarctic Treaty that forbids using the continent for anything other than scientific research. Scott Tanner and David Stafford are in Antarctica testing a revolutionary new type of machine called Sub Zero that can travel through and under the Antarctic Ice and are asked by the CIA to head a rescue mission for two environmental scientists thought to be held captive at Vostok Station, a remote Russian outpost. Russian military is able to track Sub Zero as it travels under the ice allowing Lebedev, a Russian oligarch operating the illegal activities, to launch a plan to kill the crew and steal Sub Zero. With no US military on the continent to save them, Scott and David are forced to play cat and mouse with the Russian military as they race across and under the wasteland of ice trying to reach an American outpost. As the hunt goes on, United States President Tindall is faced with the grim possibility of launching a rescue plan that could lead to war with Russia.