No one in the bustling city of Pompeii worries when the ground trembles beneath their feet. The beast under the mountain Vesuvius, high above the city, wakes up angry sometimes--and always goes back to sleep. But Marcus is afraid. He knows something is terribly wrong--and his father, who trusts science more than mythical beasts, agrees. When Vesuvius explodes into a huge cloud of ash and rocks that fall from the sky like rain, will they have time to escape--and survive the epic destruction of Pompeii?