Located on the small island of Martinique in the Caribbean, the  volacano of Mt. Pelee showed signs of activity around the turn of the last century. Day by day inhabitants of the island watched the activity increase. Sulfur vapors gave way to a light rain of cinders and eventually expolosions and columns of black smoke. Yet the inhabitants of the nearby town of Saint-Pierre were completely unprepared for the blast of superheated gas and rock that was headed their way at one hundred miles an hour.

Stung by the enormous failure of the Great Leap Forward, Chairman Mao Zedong, discredited leader of Communist China, institutes a plan to regain his former popularity and erradicate his critics. The revolution's outward aim was to reinvigorate Marxist-Leninist ideology in the Chinese people. It's less publicized goal was to restore Mao's Cult of Personality--his unquestioned authority over the government and his adoration by the people. It resulted in the persecution of millions and the deaths of hundreds of thousands.