Zadnji dan, ko naj bi se prva človeška odprava na Mars vrnila na Zemljo, odkrijejo dokaz o življenju. Ker eden izmed članov posadke noče, da bi ostali poželi vso slavo, se odloči, da ne bo poslušal ukazov in se sam odpravi zbrati dodatne vzorce. A rutinska misija se spremeni v katastrofo, saj se tla pod njim spremenijo v globok prepad, med reševalno akcijo pa izgine še eden izmed njih. Člani odprave začnejo sumiti, da šokantno odkritje ni tako nedolžno in lahko pomeni celo konec človeštva.
On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member of Tantalus Base believes he has made an astounding discovery - fossilized evidence of bacterial life. Unwilling to let the relief crew claims all the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and goes out on an unauthorized expedition to collect further samples. But a routine excavation turns to disaster when the porous ground collapses and he falls into a deep crevice and near certain death. His devastated colleagues attempt to recover his body. However, when another vanishes, they start to suspect that the life-form they have discovered is not without danger.