Barron develops the major themes of the novel through the character of Kate Gordon and the story of her inner struggles and her relationships with the other characters. In the course of her adventures, Kate explores the value of choosing, the importance of power, the ability to create, and the best way to determine truth.

The novel's main character, Kate Gordon, is an adventurous thirteen-year-old girl who is spending her summer vacation assisting her historian father on a scientific expedition to Baja California. Kate (who has had other fantastic adventures in Barron's previous novels, Heartlight and The Ancient One) feels somewhat distant and alienated from her father and longs to be closer to him. Like many adolescents, Kate feels powerless to create her own life, is seeking some goals and direction through her relationship with her father, and would like to be creative, but...