With Bagdad in revolt and the Caliphs and Kazis destroyed, the survivors flee down the river Tigris from the fanatical Ripe Fruit Party and its crazed and charismatic leader Zardin-al-Adigrab. Across seas and deserts and cities the chase ensues; and as they go, the characters tell each other stories that weave into a tapestry full of mystery and romance, of an Arabia strangely mutated from the medieval world of The Thousand and One Nights. But even these tales cannot ward off the final confrontation in this vivid and violent land.