In the early 1980's things were getting better. The Iranian Embassy hostages were coming home. Reagan was in office. And it was Winter Carnival week at Michigan Tech., a tough engineering college in the spectacular winter wilderness of the Upper Peninsula. For most Tech. students, Winter Carnival was a time to forget studying and concentrate on four days of partying, snow statues, and ice hockey. For Lars Svensson, his angst with life and his frustration with women is buried by his attempts to be "big man on campus." After all the hard work of helping to make the best of a hard winter in Upper Michigan, Lars finds himself missing most of 'da Carnival.' He spends it competing for his university at an Alpine Skiing race in Duluth. When he returns, an unexpected encounter creates a new beginning in is life.