Martin prepares for his annual ice-fishing trip, but when Duke cancels, Niles volunteers to go along, wanting a chance to bond with his father. Frasier does so too, ruminating that his father has never in his life said "I love you" to him.
Frasier thinks Niles' enthusiasm for going ice fishing with Martin seems fishy. Frasier soon realises that, by enduring a weekend in a freezing shanty over a hole in the ice, he just might hear something from his father that he's never heard before.