A severely deformed man stumbles through the Arizona desert, falls, and dies. Dr. Matt Hastings, a doctor from the nearby town of Desert Rock, Arizona, is called in by the sheriff to examine the body. Asked the cause of death, he finds himself perplexed; the deceased, biological research scientist Eric Jacobs, was someone he knew and had recently seen. He appears to have acromegaly, a distortion that takes years to reach its current state. Puzzled, Dr. Hastings asks to perform an autopsy. The sheriff judges it unnecessary, since no indication of foul play was found. Hastings approaches Jacobs' colleague, Dr. Gerald Deemer, who bluntly refuses permission. He signs Jacobs' death certificate, with "heart disease" listed as the cause of death.