At the turn of the last century, Panama was the most dangerous place in the world. Travelers would endure a voyage of thousands of miles rather than risk a 40-mile train trip across the narrow strip of land. After thousands died in the French attempt to dig a canal across the Isthmus, Theodore Roosevelt decreed "Not one spade of dirt" would be turned until the treacherous, disease-filled jungles were made safe. To that end, a small band of American engineers, doctors and nurses were dispatched to ready the Canal Zone for the thousands of workers to come. But no one ventured into the green hell of Panama unless they were leaving something far worse behind. A beautiful nurse escaping poverty, prejudice and the sexual advances of the crime boss who rules the slums where she lives and works. A former Rough Rider fleeing his domineering family, a mysterious socialite on the run from the law, a young doctor with something to hide and a pesky tabloid reporter willing to create a headline if he can't find one are among the characters at a lonely, dangerous outpost of Bohio.A series of brutal and seemingly unrelated murders leave a bloody trail that follows them from America to Bohio. As the malevolent forces of nature make each day a struggle to survive, they discover an evil in their midst far deadlier than the jungles of Panama. Each lost soul must overcome the demons that haunt them as the trappings of civilization are stripped away and they confront the face of evil.