It has been three years since the massive alien the world dubbed 'Gulliver' fell, dead, out of the sky next to Little Springs, Nebraska.
The city continues to grow, the population now into the hundreds of thousands. But there isn't enough water for everyone, and a plan to dam a nearby stream and pipe the water into town touches off protests - the dam is to be built over a sacred site, that of a long-ago massacre of the inhabitants of a Lakota village.
Sheriff David Blunt is tasked with keeping peace between the protesters and authorities, a job which becomes impossible when one protester turns up dead in mysterious circumstances. David suspects foul play.
His ensuing investigation pits him against an impossibly powerful nemesis, as he struggles to come to terms with events of the previous spring - when his best friend was revealed to be a killer, infected by a shard of the towering spire that still pierces the giant Gulliver's chest.
And the U.S. military has a secret plan to cut into the colossal figure and begin an autopsy. It's an act that will yield new revelations about the nature of the giant - and risks spreading an infection that could endanger Little Springs, if not the world beyond. For the blade that pierced through the giant is spreading its infection - an alien life form with its own dark agenda.