A spellbinding tale of life and love, death and adventure, in North America eleven thousand years ago, when mammoths roamed the continent. Award-winning archaeologists Michael and Kathleen Gear, using the best archaeological information, have created a stunning vision of our pre-history, and of the men and women who lived in this rapidly changing world. The great glaciers that cover the Sierra Nevada mountains are melting, destroying the habitats of the great elephants, lions and short-faced bears - and giving birth to the rich land that will become California. The few thousand people who have settled along the coast struggle to understand as the world around them changes. Where have the mastodons gone? And why are the mammoths disappearing? The seer Sunchaser would ordinarily visit the Spirit World and return with answers - but he has lost his way. Meanwhile his rival, Catchstraw, has discovered witchcraft as a way to Power - at the expense of his soul. And what will it mean to the people when a beautiful fugitive arrives? Kestrel, born in Arizona's marsh country, is running from her mad husband, desperately hoping for sanctuary on the coast. But if the Spirits are taking the mammoths now, what will they do should the people shelter an evil woman? Surely they should deliver her to her husband, who will kill her - and who has his own link to the Spirit World through the pitiful, mummified corpse of his little son.... Must Sunchaser choose between the woman he comes to love and the continuation of his world? He knows full well that either choice will damn him....