After rescuing U.S. Outpost 31 survivor Childs from the Antarctic wilderness, an Argentine search party comes across helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady and the remains of a U.S. Navy Seal team. The Americans are taken back to the Argentine station and are debriefed by its commanding officer, Colonel Palomo, who disarms the men and isolates them for blood testing. The tests reveal that one of the wounded is a shape-shifter, which escapes through the lab wall and flees toward a nearby ice field. MacReady, Childs, Erskine and the Argentinians pursue the creature and destroy the it with high explosives. Returning to the base, Erskine goes off to the communication shack to "report in" and MacReady suddenly realizes that Erskine was never actually tested. The two hurriedly follow him, only to find t