Horace Holly, a Cambridge professor, is entrusted with raising Leo, the son of his deceased colleague. When Leo turns 25, they open a mysterious box containing the "Sherd of Amenartas," which leads them to Africa. After a shipwreck, they are captured by the Amahagger people, ruled by a powerful white queen, Ayesha. They befriend Billali, a tribal chief, but face danger when other Amahaggers try to kill their Arab companion. Leo is injured, and Ustane, an Amahagger woman, saves him and becomes his wife according to local custom. Ayesha, who possesses immortality and other supernatural powers, reveals she has waited millennia for the reincarnation of her lost lover, Kallikrates. She believes Leo is Kallikrates reborn. And so a story is born.