In the turbulent world of the Mediterranean Bronze Age, Hylas, a lowly twelve-year-old goatherd, thief, and outsider, journeys from the Greek mountains to Crete and Egypt, making allies with animals, battling tyranny, and withstanding the elemental powers of the gods of land and sea.

Discovering an ability to communicate with ghosts, Hylas embarks on a mission to rescue his sister and confronts a power-hungry Telamon in order to safeguard his plague-stricken land.