It begins in India, in 1857, as children fall prey to a mysterious fever. Lieutenant Hamilton is spellbound by August Parrish. Pale, beautiful, and sensually magnetic, to meet August is to want her; and Thomas Hamilton cannot resist her, even as he learns her secret, even as he dies... It returns in Savannah. August Justinian has arrived. She is pale, beautiful, and sensually magnetic... And all over town, children are dying of a mysterious fever.