Deputy commissioner Paul de Savigny of Geneva Airport Police is intent on destroying the pseudo-religious sect Albatross, which his teenage daughter joined and whom he has never seen since.

Coordinating the similar plight of families around the world, he receives a dossier recounting the experience of a group subjected to Exegesis - "instant enlightenment" - under the leadership of diligent and eccentric Lionel Blake. Their expedition in search of self-discovery through the uncharted waterways between the Orinoco and the Amazon, in the Venezuelan jungle, recounts in stark detail the brain-washing, the domination, and the humiliation techniques employed by the groups that de Savigny detests. But his obsession is slowly destroying his career as a police officer.

In Camp Canaima, Venezuela, at the foot of the highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls, the group assembles. But very soon, all eight realize too late that not only is Blake eccentric, he has ulterior motives for this expedition.

The following are also by the same author: A King among Pawns The Price of Enlightenment Helvetia, the Voyage of 100 Days Voices from the Cosmos Natavallia in the Maldives The Human Barnacle Last Train to Polmouth The Water Mill