A small, innocent-looking container had been washed ashore in the little Japanese fishing village of Hatashima. Except it was not so innocent. It contained the hideous results of successful scientific research -- a bit of biological warfare gone astray.

The curious fisherman who'd opened it did not live long enough to discover what he'd caught. And so it started -- a deadly plague that threatened all life on earth.

So far, only one person had survived the disease. A frightened girl who was totally unaware that she carried in her lovely young body the precious secret of immunity.

Now she had vanished without a trace, and Sam Durell found himself heading up the most macabre womanhunt in history…