Yente and Teneshonka, two Incan youths, love each other in the mystical shadows of Coropuna below Koricancha, temple of the sun. But it is forbidden love, and Teneshonka, the chosen bride of Apu Inti, Father Sun, will die in the morning light. Over seven hundred years later, time also seems to run out on Harlan Foerst when his plane crashes, temporarily aborting his archeological expedition to Peru in search of Incan mummies. Hospitalized, he suffers Vietnam flashbacks that haunt him together with hallucinations of Incan human sacrifice. Tormented, he reaches out for the love of his young protege, Kay Mac. These two scientists help police track a serial killer across America. No ordinary murderer, Van Helms has become the prototype of Dr. Contrerras' illicit medical research to program terrorists through mind control. Twenty-first century technologies mirror ancient rituals as Van Helms, believing he has become the Incan youth, Yente, kills repeatedly in acts of revenge against the High Priest who sacrificed Teneshonka. Through computer-enhanced visions, Kay Mac conjures and relives Teneshonka's final moments with Yente leading to Teneshonka's horrifying death. Van Helms, driven by Yente's anguish, kidnaps a teenage girl he believes to be Teneshonka. Instead of killing her, he finds redemption by sacrificing his own life to save his Teneshonka, this time, from the unholy High Priests of modern science."