Aaron is an unattached, neurotic, successful Manhattan lawyer with an inoperable brain tumor. After closely scrutinizing his options, he chooses to die at a private hospice in the eastern Ontario countryside where he befriends an enlightened shaman-nurse-thanatologist, Althea Love Three-Eagle-Feathers, and her medicine-women cohorts. They escort him on his great, final journey of discovery. Using modern and traditional techniques-including massage therapy for pain control, medicinal and psychoactive herbs, wine ceremonies, sweat lodge, and an outdoor lifestyle -they support him with the "wisest, clearest, and most tender care." Following guidelines from The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol), they walk Aaron through the intermediate state between one incarnation and the next on his journey toward self-understanding, liberation, peace, and joy: healing him into death."