Industrialized civilization has long since destroyed itself, and localized governments live in harmony with the environment. In the Arizona Territory, Gloria Stone administers her healing arts to the community of Coyote Creek in exchange for her food and lodging. Her inherent ability to reverse the effects of sickness, however, is accompanied by strange phenomena: She has no memory of her childhood, and her sleep is plagued by bizarre and inexplicable nightmares. When Coyote Creek is visited by a mysterious representative of the Arizona governor, the small community is quickly swept by an epidemic that even Gloria is powerless to stop. In the desperate search for a cure, she will come to understand that the ghosts that prowl her dreams, the governor's man who stalks her village, and the powers that emanate from her body are all parts of a puzzle that is connected to the catastrophic past. Solving it could be the salvation of humanity or Gloria's own undoing.