A down-and-out private eye (Treat Williams) gets too close to the wife (Virginia Madsen) of a rich man (Richard Masur) soon found dead.
The film chronicles a long-ago time when men relied not on their intellect to make points, but on their swords. A mythical warrior ('Ralf Moeller (I)') wanders the snow-capped landscapes of the North territories on an arduous quest for vengeance. Amid nobles and schemers, saints and brutes, and lovers and fools, this Viking swings his sword for his family's honor, his beloved's hand, and the very survival of his pitiless culture.