Everyone is dying. They lie in the streets, rotting, whole towns wiped out within a few days. No one had ever thought a disease could ever be so destructive, but now they are paying the consequences. It is the heart of 14th century Germany,1347, when religion was law, kings ruled the lands, and towns were becoming self-governing, before dying out as victims of the Black Plague. Carsten, son of Diederich, is the apprentice of the surgeon Bernhard in the small village of Bergwaldorf , when the Black Plague strikes. Desperate to find a cure, the old and paranoid King of Germany, Ludwig IV, employs his nephew Adalmar to construct a team of experts to hunt down the source of the plague, and destroy it - a team in which Carsten becomes the surgeon. He reluctantly accompanies them on their crusade against the plague, and discovers the truth about the mythical creatures they hunt, his feelings regarding Adalmar's Romani slave Ida, and his own outlook on life. The once foolish quest takes on a dangerous hue, and suddenly Carsten goes from wondering whether he'll finish the quest before the summer, to whether he'll even live through it.