The six-year-old Donald accompanies his mother and father, residents of New York City, to a family Christmas gathering at the home of his maternal grandparents in rural New England.
Donald's parents register dismay and indignation, and the boy is put to bed early to shield him from further discussions of the taboo topic.
When Uncle Ivor, dressed as Santa Claus, distributes the presents brought by Mr. Gordon, the company is astonished at his largess: a fur coat and an ornate wristwatch for a delighted Aunt Emilie, and a dozen or so very expensive toys for secretly pleased Donald.
When Owen insists that Donald accompany him on a walk in the frigid cold for exercise, his sister Louisa, who has been celebrating the holiday with a large glass of brandy, begs him to reconsider: "Can't you make an exception for Christmas?"
Donald's father bursts into the barn, enraged that his son is conferring with Uncle Ivor, and escorts the boy to a secluded area of the farm.
When Donald openly defies his father "for the first time" the enraged Owen smashes a handful of snow into his face, then marches him back to the farm house.
[3][4][5] Bowles conceived and completed writing "The Frozen Fields" while aboard a steamer en route to Sri Lanka during the winter of 1956-57.
[6] Bowles recalled a childhood incident at his grandparents' "Happy Hollow Farm" in Massachusetts: I was lying awake at night in this cold room…very early before dawn I heard a fox howling, barking outside.
[8] When Donald arrives at his grandparents' farm in rural New England for the Christmas celebration with his mother, he exults in the "enchanted" and "magic" world it offers him.
[9][10]Biographer Allen Hibbard associates this theme with "the nature of authority and the threat the father poses to the child's imaginative world", calling into question the legitimacy of "the institution of the family.
Gordon's "regal, even queenly" manner and his distribution of expensive gifts permits him a proprietary and familiar attitude towards the countrified and frugal New Englanders.
[16][17]Uncle Ivor is also a critic of the boy's father, his brother in-law, and attempts to privately question Donald about any domestic violence at home.
Allen Hibbard points to the autobiographical elements of "The Frozen Fields': Following this incident [the father's brutal assault on his son] Donald, feeling a sense of detachment from the whole scene, is surprised by his lack of resentment.
[20][21]The story closes with Donald retreating into the "world of his own imagination" dreaming in his sleep of an alliance with a wolf, the "primitive forces" that stand in opposition to his father's "brutal civilizing schemes": The wolf was out there in the night…stopping to drink at the deep places in the brook where the ice had not formed…he shook his coat and climbed to the place where Donald was waiting for him.