Arie Petrovich is a scientist and a writer for a popular nature journal. He is given an assignment to write an article about the new seismic monitoring system being installed in the San Francisco Bay Area, but his project takes on a different angle when a major earthquake strikes the city of Walnut Creek, killing hundreds and leaving the two seismologists he was interviewing among the body count. Being a geologist, he notices that the damage and injuries were not exactly consistent with that caused by earthquakes. Local law enforcement is already overwhelmed with the task of maintaining order in the disaster stricken zone and doesn't feel the need to investigate further, but Arie calls upon his resources, connections, and vast knowledge of natural science to aid in an investigation and a manhunt that leads him all across the state of California.