The main character of this novel set in New York is Phillip Carelli, a nineteen-year-old killed by a hooded hitman on the street, for no apparent reason. While the police can’t identify the killer or explain the mystery of the young man’s death, Phillip’s aunt, Eleanor Ruth Carelli, a renowned biologist and scientific researcher, manages to spirit Phil’s body off to her laboratory in the Amazon rainforest. There she resumes an experiment that she had perfected as a young biology student, and vowed to abandon forever. Driven by her profound attachment to her nephew and her own need to understand the secret of human life, she brings Phillip back to life, turning him into a living skeleton. And once Phillip overcomes his shock at what he has become and gains control of his new powers, he realizes he has a "mission" to carry out. Once back in New York, he tracks down his first love, Joan Mary-Frazier, and her current boyfriend, Professor Tony Seppilli, and recruits them both to put his diabolical plan into practice.