Harmont 40 years after Red Shewhart's contact with the Golden Ball...The zone has changed. Finding a safe path in forbidden territory is now more difficult than before. Anomalies lurk on once safe paths, bloodthirsty mutants attack from ambush. A group of stalkers is sent to an unknown part of the Zone to catch and destroy Tramp Dick, a mega-anomaly that has left its former habitat. Some decided on this outing for the sake of money, for some the fight with Dick is a matter of honor, for others it is a search for truth. Well, for Kim Stewart, a freelance writer for the Daily Telegraph, this adventure is the perfect opportunity to write a killer report and become famous. But the Zone itself chooses the reward for the winner...