Cameraman Mason Plater gets a fill-in job on a documentary at a mental hospital. An inexplicable incident there triggers disturbing dreams. Molly James, a young intern, tries to help him unravel what's happening to him. In the US a charismatic leader of a new church becomes a rising star in politics. For cult de-programmer Erik Nordstrom the church is not what it seems. Why is a church building a strange machine in a disused military base in the Rocky mountains? The UK Home Secretary struggles with his loyalties, as a government minister but also as a member of a clandestine global organisation sworn to protect humanity, but from what? A centuries old threat that is too dangerous to reveal. Why is a secret Home Office department desperate to implant coma patients with experimental devices? Two young technicians decide to find out. Plater discovers his world has changed.

He finds himself drawn into a race against time to prevent the sinister church and its leader completing their machine. He finds help and a common cause with others from unexpected sources. Time is short, as the church leader increases his power and an ancient order of occultists set out to kill Plater.