When his brother is mysteriously lost in Tibet, Charles Houston leaves London to find him. His search takes him to India and Sikkim, through a succession of exotic locales, and finally to Tibet, where Houston falls in love with Mei-Hua, the abbess of the monastery of Yamdring.

Lionel Davidson's novel, set during the communist Chinese invasion of Tibet, is the story of a man who is forced against his will into a desperate fight for his life.

"The sense of physical jeopardy is relentless, the geographical scope boundless, and the plot unremittingly surprising." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)