The Snow Girl (La chica de nieve) recap guide: All 6 episodes explained

The Snow Girl is a dark Spanish thriller series about the disappearance of a five-year-old girl and the tenacious journalism intern who goes above and beyond to find her. The following recap guide should assist those who need help understanding certain parts of the episode or missed something while watching.

Spoilers ahead for The Snow Girl

Based on the book by Spanish author Javier Castillo, The Snow Girl is ideal for those who enjoy fast-paced mysteries. Keep reading to see our breakdown of all six episodes.

The Snow Girl episode 1 recap: Amaya’s disappearance

Five-year-old Amaya disappears during a Twelfth Night parade in Málaga, Spain, leaving her parents, Ana and Álvaro, absolutely distraught. The Snow Girl begins on Jan. 5, 2010, the day Amaya went missing. At one point during the parade, Amaya’s dad, Álvaro, takes her to buy a balloon. The man selling them is sketchy and attempts to con Álvaro, causing him to take his eyes off Amaya for just one second to count the money. In that brief moment, Amaya wanders away from him, and someone abducts her.

Once Amaya’s disappearance hits the news circuit, it catches the attention of newspaper intern Miren, who works at the regional paper Diario Sur. Despite her boss telling her to stick to covering the weather, Miren takes it upon herself to tag along with her mentor, senior reporter, and college professor, Eduardo.

Miren is headstrong when it comes to this line of work. The Snow Girl episode 1 quickly establishes that she’s still reckoning with trauma related to being sexually assaulted. It’s not clear how long ago it happened, but as a result, Miren is withdrawn, ignores calls from her mother, and seems to use her work as an outlet.

With the investigation underway, Ana and Álvaro host a memorial for Amaya and invite the press so they can provide a statement, speaking directly to their daughter and her kidnapper. Ana pleads with her daughter’s abductor to return her to them. Álvaro’s best friend David Luque, his wife Rosa, and their son Samuel attend the event to cheer them up and assist them in handing out flyers with Amaya’s face and information on them.

Miren hangs around the periphery of the press conference so she can talk to Ana one-on-one after all is said and done. She gives Ana her number, promising to keep anything they say off the record unless Ana consents to publish.

From there, Miren heads to the park where David’s family and some of the neighbors are passing out flyers to the community. Miren infiltrates the group to assist, chatting up Rosa for more details on Ana and her family. But things take a nasty turn when David arrives. Apparently, Ana told her husband that Miren had cornered her, and so David takes Miren’s presence at the park as a threat. Things almost turn violent between them. David promises to contact her editor. Miren almost gets fired, but luckily she has Eduardo vouch for her.

Meanwhile, the detectives on the case, Belén Millán, and her partner Chaparro, question one of the neighbors, a woman who claims to have seen something the night of the parade. Since the disappearance, the cops have found Amaya’s discarded yellow raincoat.

Her kidnapper took it off her and left it inside an apartment building before disappearing, which makes sense since the raincoat is easy to spot and it would be easier to get Amaya out of the area without it. But the odd thing is the placement of the coat. Why leave it in a building, especially one they would have needed to sneak inside since the door is always locked? Why not just ditch the coat in an alley or the trash?

The neighbor doesn’t have many answers. She’s mostly portrayed as a loopy cat lady who can’t remember if she saw one man, two men, or even three men abducting Amaya. After that dead end, Det. Belén and her partner go to visit Juancho, the sketchy balloon salesman from the parade. He doesn’t let them inside his apartment and acts cagey when they question him.

Juancho asserts his innocence, claiming he’s no pervert and even has a daughter Amaya’s age. Since they can’t search his place without a warrant, the cops decide to leave it for now and assign someone to tail Jauncho for a few days and see where he goes.

At the end of The Snow Girl episode 1, the detectives attend the candlelit vigil for Amaya. Belén’s partner says they got a hit on priors after checking out the friends and family members. Apparently, David Luque has a record. Years ago, he was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a little girl. He just became their prime suspect.

Then the episode skips ahead six years to 2016 and Amaya’s 12th birthday. A package arrives for Miren, who is still working at the Diario Sur paper. The note indicates that Miren should bring Amaya’s parents in before opening the contents. Inside is a videotape showing Amaya, now 12, playing with a dollhouse inside a bedroom.