Nicolette Scott is an archeologist whose knowledge of early airplanes has gained her kudos as an expert, a reputation for ignoring authority and a job at the Smithsonian. Shortly after she begins there, she is thrilled to be included in the museum's latest project. A large pharmaceutical company is equipping an expedition to a remote region of Alaska, where during World War II a Japanese plane was shot down. It's a gamble, but the money is provided, and if the small group of experts could locate the plane and somehow bring it back to Washington, it would be a coup - and a boost for Nicolette's career.

Not long after the search begins, the plane is indeed found, but the move would be risky - it has started disintegrating in unusually "warm" weather. Instead of returning in moderate triumph, Nicolette is dismayed to discover that there is a darker reason for the company's generosity. The expedition's real goal turns out to reach all the way back to the great Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-1919, grimly nicknamed "The Spanish Lady," which killed millions around the world. The virus of this flu still exists in its few victims who happened to be preserved in constantly frozen ground. The expedition's backers had recently learned that three World War One veterans searching Alaska for gold had died of the disease near their crashed plane, and it is their bodies that is the real goal of the expedition.

Nicolette is shocked. The only reason she can see for the search, the willing expenditure of money, and the odd cast of characters is an ominous one, and she soon discovers a plot that equals the threat of global atomic war. Unless she can defuse it - and the effort could easily mean her death - the lives of the innocent members of the expedition will be forfeit and the lives of hundreds of millions will be at stake.