Tomahawk, an end-of-the-road town in the Wyoming mountains, where nothing ever happens and the people there appreciate it, is about to have a wake-up call that could be its last. A wounded mountain lion, starving and dying, eats something that falls out of the sky. The people also end up infected through a contaminated lake water supply. Animals become smarter and the people discover and indulge their animal natures...to fatal consequences for all. It becomes a fight for survival, for all species, and into this sudden and dangerous turmoil comes a teenager, Owen Temple, orphaned and with an aunt he doesn't know. He meets a rough tomboy, her editor father, a veterinarian and a game warden. Together, they will have to fight for survival, while protecting the rest of the few inhabitants--some of which are undergoing horrible transformations and are as dangerous, if not more so, than the animals which are now cleverly lethal. The people will have to adapt, and quickly, or perish. They are so preoccupied with understanding what's happening, fighting for survival, and trying to control their sharpened senses, that they barely have time to wonder who...or what...is causing the crisis.