The charismatic Brother XII, who was real, dominates his religious commune in the mysterious Gulf Islands of British Columbia in the early 1930s. When Mary and Philip White sell their expensive home in England, give the money to the Brother, and join the commune, they seem to be entering nirvana. But things soon start to go wrong. The story features Canada's mystic leader and his Aquarian cult. It follows the extraordinary influence the Brother has on two generations of two families in Canada, Britain, Africa and the Caribbean. The second generation family members pursue careers in medicine and dancing in London where they find clues to their true identities. Eventually they discover the strange rituals that took place in the commune and learn of the Aquarian gold still hidden on the islands.