It begins with a group of travellers disembarking on a small island in the Irish Sea after their ship runs aground.

There they stumble upon a house inhabited by Professor Kreutznaer,[2] his assistant Licht, and an unnamed character who figures centrally in the novel and who is referred to only as "Little God."

Much of the latter half of the book focuses on Montgomery's account of his experiences after having been released from prison, his reflections on the crime (the murder of a young woman) he committed, and his continuing struggle with the ghosts of his past and the nature of his perceptions.

Kreutznaer's relationship to a painting entitled The Golden World by a fictional Dutch artist named Vaublin plays a central role in the novel.

[1] She notes that it recalls Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, beginning with a group of travellers cast up on an island together and meeting its inhabitants.