A team of researchers funded by a New York pharmaceutical firm Wexel Hall, including Dr. Jack Byron, Gordon Mitchell, Sam Rogers, Gail Stern, Cole Burris, and Dr. Ben Douglas leave for a jungle in Borneo - Indonesia to search for a flower called ''Perrinnia Immortalis'', which they believe can be used as a type of fountain of youth. Though their guide Captain Bill Johnson and his partner Tran Wu has misgivings about which path to take, Jack convinces him to take an unsafe path. The team goes over a waterfall and has to wade through the river. A giant anaconda emerges from the water and swallows Ben whole, but the rest of the team escape from the river. Bill assures them that it was the largest snake he has ever seen and that it should take weeks for it to grow hungry again. However, most of the team demand that the expedition be called off. They travel to Bill's friend, John Livingston, who lives on the river, to see if Bill can borrow his boat, but they find Livingston dead and his boat crashed.