A.D. 695 - Naranjo, a mid-sized city in the Guatemalan jungle. Wakah Baak, "Raised-Up Heron," was unlike anyone in his family of warriors. When he was a child suffering from debilitating illnesses, he enjoyed the company of an itinerant storyteller who became his mentor. Wakah's dream was to follow him on that path. Now as a young man the Regent "privileged" him with telling a story to the captive families that she and his father, the supreme warlord, are bringing in to bolster their army and provide labor in support of her building projects. When Wakah realizes that the story she'd given him to present to the captives is deceptive, he resigns. Rejected by her and his father, he joins a merchant expedition as a way to travel to Calakmul, the place where his teacher became authorized to tell the sacred "god stories" and "tales of the ancients." It was a time when the nature of warfare changed dramatically. Where before, rulers raided neighboring kingdoms to capture members of the ruling families for blood sacrifice, they are now conducting large-scale raids and forced migrations to acquire men, women and children to bolster their armies and increase the labor force for their building projects. A climate of fear has gripped the lowland cities. Seeking excitement and distraction, people gather around the storytellers in great numbers, eager for stories about raids and valiant warriors. Seeing the faces of misery and hopelessness in the places he visits, Wakah decides to tell stories that inspire hope, courage and self-determination. But he attracts very few listeners. Out of step with the times and the people he encounters, Wakah persists. Along the way he confronts the battles that rage within-having taken a vow to speak only the truth as he knows it, can he tell god stories and tales of the ancients when they are contradictive? Is there a rightful place for him in the world? Will he find success telling his stories in the plazas of the big cities, or must he be satisfied with telling them in the marketplaces of small villages? To answer these questions he must first discover who he is.