DJ Abbott gets an opprtunity to spend the summer on a beautiful ranch in Arizona while getting paid for it. It is an offer just too good to refuse even if it means working for a quirky benefactor named Hank Hunnicutt, who loves to throw money at various projects investigating the occult.

DJ is skeptical of all these theories about Atlantis, dragons,and other such mysteries, and she has no trouble in sharing her opinion with the various specialists at the ranch. Unfortunately, she is foreced to work with tehm when Hunnicutt mysteriously disappears and they are all under suspicion. They end up searching the surrounding desert in the hopes of finding him and the reasons for his disappearance. The problem is that doing so places DJ right in the targets of those up to no good ... and she might not survive.

This is a typical mystery by Peters. A strong, independent protagonist that knows how to take care of herself. There are strong ties to archaeology, and this time the focus is on the native peoples of the Southwest.