In the year 4368 B.C. Marrah, daughter of the peace-loving shore people, has fled captivity from the nomad warrior horde who have a lust for carnage and conquest that is alien to her. Across a landscape of frozen steppes and trackless forests, she and her companions must evade the horsemen before they reach her beloved homeland by the sweetwater sea. Making escape even more dangerous is the presence of her lover, Stavan, who has abandoned his place of honor among the nomads to join her in her flight and ally himself with the Mother Goddess.

Marrah is forced to put her convictions and courage to the supreme test -- as she risks everything she and her people hold dear -- in a struggle that will change the prehistoric world forever.