In the mysterious Zone X, mutants and hunters for profit do not roam, and amazing artifacts are not brought from there. There they simply disappear forever - or return, but strangely and terribly changed. During another fruitless expedition, the director of the Southern Reach, a secret government organization studying the Zone, disappeared. Now the new director will have to understand the legacy of the missing woman. The problem is that for an outsider, this organization turns out to be a mystery no less confusing than the Zone itself. Where are the research results? Why is the staff behaving so strangely? What are they really doing here? Penetrating the secrets of the Southern Reach, the new director approaches a terrifying discovery...