Unable to return to Earth, Dan Dare and the crew of the Anastasia head to the desolate planet Mars, where Dan's estranged Uncle Ivor is part of a research team working on a top-secret archaeological dig; but when they find the base wrecked and the scientists missing, Dare, Digby and Professor Peabody soon discover that the Red Planet is not nearly as dead as everyone thought and that Ivor's expedition has woken an army of deadly insect-creatures that threaten to swarm and engulf the Earth... Dare must stop the aliens, but can he really resort to genocide in order to save the human race?