Twenty members of a cult are found massacred on an isolated island on Canada's West Coast. Their leader, Shiva Ram Acharya, is brought to trial, and the great Arthur Beauchamp defends him, assisted by his junior counsel Max Macarthur. Shiva claims to have amnesia and refuses to participate in his own defence. But Macarthur gradually becomes convinced of his innocence, embarking on the greatest challenge of his career -- a dangerous quest for the true murderer -- and falling under the sway of the brilliant, enigmatic Shiva. Is Shiva a madman or a messiah?