Near a village of the Musashi Province, a pair of woodcutters named Minokichi and Mosaku end their daily routine of venturing off into the forest for lumber to sell. Unfortunately, on their way back the pair is caught in a great snow storm, and are forced to frantically search for the nearby dock to ferry themselves back home. The pair struggle, collapsing several times on their journey while Minokichi starts to hallucinate, before finally finding the dock. Sadly, the ferryman had left his boat on the other side of the river, leaving the woodcutters stranded for the length of the storm. The pair are forced to take shelter in the ferryman's hut, and settle in for the night. Just before dawn, though, the pair is visited by the Lady of the Snow. Her first victim is Mosaku, as she approaches the elderly man and kills him in his sleep, freezing and draining the blood from the woodcutter. Her next target is the younger Minokichi, whom she approaches and kneels in front of. Instead of killing him, though, she explains that she feels a great pity him, as he is still very young, and decides to spare his life. That is on one condition: that he never utter a word of their meeting. The Lady of the Snow then promptly leaves, letting Minokichi dwell on this turn of events.

A year passes and Minokichi has not told a soul of what he saw that night. During a routine trip to the forest by himself, he comes across a young girl named Yuki who tells him she plans to make the long trip to Edo that night. The pair travel together until they reach Minokichi's house, where they rest for the night. Miniokichi accompanies Yuki on her journey in the morning; however, the pair quickly fall in love, and end up returning back to Miniokichi's house that evening.

Several years pass and Miniokichi and Yuki have three children together. On the memorial day of Minokichi's mother, the young man watches his wife do the finishing touch on her kimono. Whilst watching Yuki's face, the light plays tricks on him as he is reminded of the night that the Lady of the Snow came to visit him. Yuki asks Miniokichi why he was staring at her, and her husband tells her about the at ferryman's cabin. He begins to explain how beautiful she was, and how her face had reminded him of that experience. Upon hearing this, Yuki removes her disguise, revealing that her true identity as the Lady of the Snow. She quickly reminds Miniokichi of her vow to kill him if he ever related the events of that night. Once again, though, she takes mercy on the young man, this time because of their children. She tells her husband to take good care of them, setting the finished kimono next to her sleeping daughter's head, and explains that if he ever upsets them she will no longer hesitate to kill him. The Lady of the Snow then passes through the door and vanishes, never to be seen again.