In Eastern Nigeria, there is an Evil Forest, so named for its purpose as a burial ground for the unfortunates who have died of dreadful diseases; of leprosy and smallpox, of suicide and the misfortune of being born a twin. Its narrow labyrinthine pathways, slow moving swamps and dense bush hide a secret life known only to those who stumble upon it. A young man, David Rainer, is just such a person. In the autumn of 1966 he flies to Nigeria intent on becoming a missionary but the events of his arrival, during the Kano massacre, are so traumatic they leave him doubting the very existence of a merciful God. Distancing himself from his fellow missionaries he welcomes the friendship of a powerful chieftain, not realizing the relationship is a poisoned chalice involving him in someone else's vendetta and awakening the enmity of a treacherous adversary. Unaware of the danger he is in he becomes entangled in the conflict by falling in love with the chieftain's daughter, virtually signing his death warrant. For she is a surviving twin and the denizens of the Evil Forest know and are coming.