When deputy sherriff Youngman Duran finds an old Hopi Indian dead, followed by a spate of maimed, flayed livestock, the only clue is the enigmatic sand painting Abner created the day before: black for death, red for blood. In bitter revenge against humiliations inflicted on his people, the old man's rage becomes gruesome reality as the most virulent disease known to man threatens to wipe out the entire American Southwest.
Youngman alone understands the significance of the painting, and together with scientist Hayden Paine, knows the burden of defeating its terror rest with him.
