Dishonorably discharged for countermanding orders to save the life of an Afghani, Dr. Frank Slater attempts to redeem his government status by heading a science team in Alaska, where permafrost melting is exposing the graves of Spanish flu victims and triggering the virus's reintroduction to the world.

Just days before a massive exhibition opens at the New York Museum of Natural History, visitors are being savagely murdered in the museum's dark hallways and secret rooms. Autopsies indicate that the killer cannot be human, but the museum's directors plan to proceed with the party celebrating the new exhibition. Museum researcher Margo Green must find out who - or what - is doing the killing--Publisher.