California has played host to some of America's strangest events. This certainly held true when 39 members of a doomsday cult known as "Heaven's Gate," led by Marshall Applewhite, decided to commit mass suicide in San Diego County in 1997. This group held strange beliefs tied to the Hale-Bopp Comet. Unlike the rather bizarre members of some cults, these supposedly "ordinary" people were between the ages of 26 and 72. During interviews with those who lost loved ones or friends to this mass suicide or were familiar with the subsequent investigation, attempts are made to gain an understanding of how this type of terrible tragedy can take place in modern society. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi