Our heroine Alice is catapulted, by a succession of terrifying events, on to an extraordinary journey to find the reincarnated soul of her lost and beloved brother. To aid her, she is given a magical box with six mysterious clues written in different languages, the answers to which will complete a crossword puzzle. Alice is hampered by suffering from a terrible and fatal disease, currently wiping out most of her generation in Britain, which gives her only a few months to live. Nevertheless, knowing that Clair will have a message providing the cure for her disease, Alice struggles through untold obstacles to reach her brother.

Her journey takes her from England across the channel to Holland, then through Europe to Austria and Italy, and further East to the mysterious world of Katmandu in Nepal. On her travels Alice meets many different people - some friendly, some helpful, some untrustworthy and some downright bizarre. Her outer journey is mirrored by the inner journey of dreams and revelations, both of which help her to gradually solve the clues. Her experiences are sometimes strange and otherworldly, and sometimes frighteningly real. With every event she encounters and every obstacle she must endure, Alice learns valuable lessons, and she begins to acquire a new bravery compassion and understanding.