lsquo;An ash-gray dog with a white blaze on its forehead burst onto the rough terrain of the market on the first Sunday of Decemberhellip;rsquo; When a witch doctor appears on the Marquis de Casalduero's doorstepnbsp;prophesizing a plague of rabies in their Colombian seaport, he dismisses her claims ndash; until he hears that his young daughter, Sierva Mariacute;a, was one of four people bitten by a rabid dog, and the only one to survive.nbsp; Sierva Mariacute;a appears completely unscathed ndash; but as rumours of the plague spread, the Marquis and his wife wonder at her continuing good health. In a town consumed by superstition, itrsquo;s not long before they, and everyone else, put her survival down to a demonic possession and begin to see her supernatural powers as the cause of the townrsquo;s woes. Only the young priest charged with exorcising the evil spirit recognizes the girlrsquo;s sanity, but can he convince the town that itrsquo;s not her that needs healing?