Dirk Pitt, a renowned explorer and adventurer, embarks on another journey into the Sahara desert. He is in search of the “death ship,” a lost warship filled with gold coins. At the same time, in an undefined state in North Africa, an inexplicable infection is dangerously spreading, reaching epidemic proportions and creating chain reactions.

The United Nations scientist, Eva Rojas, is seeking the causes of the destruction while also searching for a way to stop its spread.

Dirk Pitt will save the young scientist from an assassination attempt, and then the two heroes will join forces to find the source of the infection that is spreading across the African continent and threatening to destroy life as we know it.