The fire that was to change so many lives started with a single shaft of lightning that struck a mountain ridge on a still and moonless night. Connor Ford, the Smoke Jumper, braves the the flames to save the woman he loves but cannot have.

In the wake of the fire, Connor travels to the world's worst wars and disasters to take photographs that find him fame but not happiness. Reckless of a life he no longer wants, he dares death to take him, until another fateful day on another continent, when he must walk through fire again ...