In the courtyard of a Hindu temple in Switzerland, a woman collapses in the arms of a visiting Indian journalist, her body reduced to a puddle of blood. Never before has anyone seen anything like this. Three months later, all over Mumbai, men, women and children are ravaged by a disease that begins with initially mild symptoms--that swiftly progress until an ultimately gruesome death. Who will it hit next? And where did it come from? As the rogue microbe wreaks its bloody havoc--striking rich and poor, young and old--chaos ensues. Thousands try to flee the city, including the most powerful man in the country. Can this deadly plague be stopped? After all, all that stands between the city and apocalypse is a ragged team of doctors, civil servants, and scientists. But their intervention may be too little, too late.