Luis Palmer has had his eyes opened.In Colorado Springs the acquiescent, retiring professor of anthropology was stalked, hunted by his former lover Angie, who, after a lengthy absence in Arizona, where Luis thought she had met her end, returned to Colorado dispossessed, infected with the malevolent spirit of a mysterious sorcerer from deep in the Painted Desert whom Luis is all too familiar with, Thunderwalker.Many have died as a result of this galling sorcerer, some caused by Angie's own uncontrollable drive to insure her own survival, and others which had been synonymous with the strange appearance of the eerie, and very deadly, ghost riders, the Arizos.Luis is now compelled to return to the Arizona desert, to seek once again the strange portal through which he may enter the sorcerer's lair, to confront Thunderwalker himself face to face, so that he may return a sacred crystal back where it belongs. Returning with him are his son Joseph Blackfeather, who wishes to save the threatened life of his young love Twilight, and Johnny Hawkins, who wants only to avenge the death of his closest friend Jake.Before they are finished, each will have been tested to their ultimate limits.