When a stranger arrives in the Village of Goldfall, not only does he bring merchandise to the delight of the villagers but he brings with him a purpose to claim a boy named Erlvar and to take him away to see the world beyond the pastoral farm fields of the Falling Plains. For Erlvar, an exciting adventure at first becomes soon enough a perilous journey of discovery through the lands of the planet Sudarka, and ultimately a quest to trace his true origins and above all to probe the mysteries of the Jewels of Huemancy.