Carla Alten is determined to conquer the White Tower, a difficult, unconquered peak in the Swiss Alps that had claimed her mountaineer father's life.

American Martin Ordway, a former pilot who was shot down in this region during World War II, has a blasé attitude about everything except his growing attraction to Carla.

Against her best judgement, Carla is persuaded to enlist an expert German climber named Hein, whose wool cap bears the ghost of a Luftwaffe insignia.

That night, during a blizzard, he digs up the bottle he has hidden, finishes his book, and accidentally sets the tent on fire, sending the pages flying into the storm.

Eventually, stuck on a snow bridge, Hein refuses to take Ordway's outstretched hand and plummets to his death.

Bosley Crowther, reviewer for The New York Times, thought that "All of the danger and excitement, the toil and heart-breaking distress, of high-altitude mountain climbing are ticketed in the episodes in his [Jarrico's] script.