David Purcell was on his way to meet his girlfriend when he fell into a cave. When he next comes aware of things, he is in a hospital recovering. He has been missing for five weeks and has no memory of his time in the cave. He is also mysteriously free of any signs of starvation, injury or cave blindness. Adam Maho is an elderly Hopi who has seen visions of Kuskurza, the Third World of Hopi creation stories. It is a world that is supposed to have been destroyed when the Hopi came to this world through a hole in the ground. Adam's visions show him that those ancient evils that had been long-believed dead were imprisoned and not destroyed. Their prison is weakening, though. When it fails, the dark kachinas will be free to once again bring death and devastation to the world. Adam's visions also show the Hopi that David is somehow the key to keeping the dark kachinas imprisoned. The dark kachinas realize this as well and have sent two of their servants, men of the Bow Clan, to the surface on a suicide mission to kill David Purcell. David is unsure of what to believe. He has flashes of memory from his time in the caverns, but he can't go so far as to believe what Adam tries to explain to him. That is, until the Bow Clan attacks him and kills his girlfriend. When David becomes a suspect in the murder, he flees to the Hopi settlement of Oraibi. The Bow Clan is not finished with David. They pursue him and capture Adam's granddaughter, though David escapes them. He turns the tables on the Bow Clan and decides to take the fight to them as he remembers more of his time in the caverns. He makes the journey to Kuskurza on a rescue mission and to try and find a way to stop the dark kachinas.
