In his first year in Los Angeles, Angel encountered Jheira, a hunter from another dimension whose fiery emotions cause men to fall under her spell. Four years later he is astonished to find the fugitive Jheira again - and disconcerted to find that her power over men is as strong as it was before.

Someone else is looking for Jheira - hoping that she will help him to thaw an army of demon soldiers: souls of the damned entombed beneath the eternal ice in a frozen and desolate hell. And in a museum in Los Angeles, on loan from China, one of the world's great archaeological treasures stands waiting. Thousands of warriors sculpted in terracotta, looking as if they could come to life any moment.

Meantime in Sunnydale Buffy is trying to come to terms with a new and different life, juggling her work as a counsellor with looking after Dawn and keeping an eye on Spike and his fragile sanity. A demonic invincible army is the last thing that she needs...