Fleeing the Inquisition, an alchemist arrives in Mexico in 1536 bearing the chronos device--an ornate clockwork instrument that can prolong life but at the same time instills an unquenchable thirst for human blood. Following his death 400 years later, the device and its instruction manual become separated, one falling into the hands of an antiquities dealer, the other in the possession of a dying industralist. The former is saved from a hellish fate by his brave little granddaughter.