George Severe, a National Weather Service research scientist obsessed by a strange weather system, leads an expedition to a Colorado mountaintop near Durango, Colorado. A tragic incident thrusts him to a strange land where mythical creatures exist, stone is alive, and traditionally incompatible animals and plants thrive harmoniously. George is drawn into a developing conflict between the leaders of a local village and the suzerain of the land. As much as he tries to focus on his research, he is forced to choose between the villagers he thought had rescued him and the leader of the strange land.