Starring Melissa Leo and Misty Upham, the film follows two working-class mothers who team up to earn money by smuggling illegal immigrants from Canada to the United States.

Following a limited release on August 1, 2008, the film opened in theatres on September 5, 2008, to critical acclaim, with particular praise for Leo's performance and Hunt's direction.

The film is set shortly before Christmas in the North Country of Upstate New York, near the Akwesasne ('Where the Partridge Drums') St. Regis Mohawk Reservation and the border crossing to Cornwall, Ontario.

Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is a discount store clerk struggling to raise two sons with her husband, a compulsive gambler who has disappeared with the funds she had earmarked to finance the purchase of a double-wide mobile home.

While searching for him, she encounters Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), a Mohawk bingo-parlor employee who is driving his car, which she claims she found abandoned with the keys in the ignition at the local bus station.

The two women, who have both fallen on hard economic times, form a desperate and uneasy alliance and begin smuggling illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States across the frozen St. Lawrence River for $1,200 each.

Because the police are demanding a scapegoat, the tribal head decides to excommunicate Lila for five years due to her smuggling history which involved the death of her Mohawk husband.

In an interview screenwriter/director Courtney Hunt conducted shortly before the film's release, she discussed its prevalent theme of a mother's love for her children being a culturally universal trait.

[5] She met cinematographer Marc Blandori and actress Melissa Leo at the FilmColumbia 2003 Film Festival in Chatham, New York and both agreed to join the project, which prompted some interest from investors.

Frozen River was shot in sub-freezing temperatures on location in Clinton County and Beekmantown and in the area around Plattsburgh over a period of twenty-four days in March 2007.

The website's critical consensus states, "Veteran character actress Melissa Leo delivers a stunning performance in this powerful -- if grim -- indie film".