THE PRESENT: Paleontologists excavating the bones of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex unearth modern human skeletons and a piece from an aircraft, stripped of all identifying markings, buried in Cretaceous terrain. Scientists from both paleontology and crash investigation realize that their rigid academic beliefs may be shattered by what else they will soon discover. Conflicting personal and professional agendas come into play as these scientists try to determine what happened more than 65 million years in the past.THE PAST: Several people board an airplane in Portland, headed to Atlanta. When the plane encounters unusual turbulence, the competent pilot must land the aircraft without instruments, running out of fuel, in an unfamiliar world. The crew and passengers slowly come to realize they have landed in the distant past. As the survivors explore their new world, expecting to be rescued, they must fight against T. rexes and other threats. The chapters of the novel alternate between the scientists in the present and the survivors in the past. Each chapter is separated by a diary entry from one of the survivors on the plane.