Maria had a shocking childhood in France before her mother brought her to the United States. After her mother remarried their life was good, until her mother's death. Maria's stepfather, a scientist, went to Africa and vanished. When no one else would, Maria went by herself to find him in a country about which she knew nothing. Of course there is the cannibal tribe Maria and a prince are drawn together by extreme dangers. How do they end up in Arabia? What about her stepfather?