An ancient prophecy foretells that the world will end on 21 December 2012In Central America, a treasure hunter discovers a Maya relic - a mysterious and ornate codex - but when he smuggles it into the US, he brings with him an old and deadly secretEarly in December 2012, the codex comes to Chel Manu, a Maya world authority She is torn between the chance to translate the codex herself and her duty to alert the authorities Meanwhile, in an LA hospital, an unknown man is dying of a rare, contagious disease When Dr Gabriel Stanton is called in, he realises that this is no ordinary infection - and it will spread uncontrollably Stanton and Chel must race to decipher the codex's secrets and prevent the prophesised apocalypse