Extreme weather threatens the whole of continental Europe, turning the lives of its citizens inside out. The French government calls Professor Mortimer to help solve this enigma. Mortimer travels near Paris to visit his friend Professor Labrousse, the chief French meteorologist. But when the taxi driver Labrousse sent to meet Mortimer at the station disappears, our friend becomes the prime suspect. Mortimer gets in touch with his old friend Blake, also in France, to help him out of this tricky situation. However, Blake disappears as well, so Mortimer and Labrousse have two missing-person cases to investigate. They soon discover that the two disappearances are not only linked to each other, but also to the climatic catastrophes.

Born of Edgar Pierre Jacobs' imagination during the post-WWII period, Professor Philip Mortimer, nuclear physicist, and Captain Francis Blake, dashing head of MI5, are legendary heroes of the 9th art. The author, a close relative of Herge, appreciated the exceptional and the astonishing that could be found within the scope of scientific invention; his heroes, very much ahead of their time, discover extraordinary objects and phenomena through their uncommon adventures. Before devoting himself exclusively to them, Jacobs collaborated with Herge and took part in the realization of Tintin in the Congo, Tintin in America, The Blue Lotus, King Ottokar's Sceptre, The Seven Crystal Balls, and Prisoners of the Sun.