Deccan, last of the Neolithic hunter-gatherers, whose father vanished under mysterious circumstances, wants to know what happened to him, but all his mother would tell him, was that he had died in a hunting accident. Refusing to be satisfied, he wants to know more and to get revenge. Before he can even plan it, he is captured by a nearby warlike tribe. He meets Bekah, a girl who, like he and his cousins, is confined to a slave pen. Later, when an opportunity to escape (a fortuitous kitchen fire) arises, they take it, boldly rushing out into the wild, to get even, later. But things are never as simple as one would wish. There are women to wed and children to sire.