In 1918 in wartime France, Dr. Cole Sterling of the American Expeditionary Forces is mortally wounded by a renegade German officer. Cole miraculously recovers from his wounds after receiving a small blood transfusion from a mysterious French woman, Aurora. He quickly learns there is a high price for saving his life. Intolerant to sunlight and needing to drink blood to survive, his old life as a surgeon has been snatched from him. Eventually, Aurora helps Cole regain his enthusiasm for life, and they plan a life together until, in Antwerp in 1920, they cross paths with Aurora's degenerate ex-husband and his manipulative friend, Baron Gerbold. Cole continues to encounter Gerbold with disturbing results over several years, culminating with a shocking request from the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence Division to assist Gerbold, now an S.S. officer, escape Nazi Germany with a valuable scientist and a dangerous, viral specimen.