A young boy makes a journey of survival and self-discovery across the awe-inspiring landscape of untamed fourteenth-century Africa. Maji and his father are shipwrecked and only Maji survives. He is captured by two fierce emissaries and taken to the legendary Kingdom of Gold.

On the journey Maji discovers that he has the gift of water-divining.
A crippling drought has struck the Kingdom, and Maji is commanded to find water, but there is none, and he fears for his life. Then he meets the beautiful Mukonikoni, destined to become one of the old Ruler's many wives. Can he rescue her, and will he ever be able to make the return journey to the sea and his home?

Before he can, he has to confront the terror of mass hysteria when Mukonikoni is accused of witchcraft...