Vienna in the 17th century teeters on the boundary West and East halves of the 'civilized world," its people on all sides beset by unfriendly neighbors. Less blinded by the old hatreds nursed by his fellow citizens, minor nobleman Dietrich is more concerned with his physician's passion to heal and an endless pursuit of knowledge.

But when his discovery of a recently deceased man discovers the ravages of a new disease and foul play, the cycle of uncomplicated living is broken. The body, wracked with dark decay and desolation in a way that no physician has ever seen, spreads with a virulence that confounds every mind in the city. Now chasing both cure and killer, Dietrich races to halt the relentless march of death baptizing all in an unrelenting sacrament of death.