[2] The story takes place against the background of the early 1970s, with the Cold War at its peak and the Middle East smouldering with political conflict, and is told by the protagonist, Paul van der Voort.

His father (unbeknownst to him at first) is a famous archaeologist, Dr Pieter van der Voort, who is trying to prove his theory that the pre-historic origins of modern man in Europe, lie in Greece.

A few days later Paul gets himself involved with an international smuggler, who sends him to Malta in order to avoid arrest for murder and pick up illicit antique artifacts from Turkey.

In the climatic scene, the archaeologists start removing the fallen rocks and Paul makes an undersea dive and reaches a way into the cavern where his father is trapped.

When father and son meet for one last time, they sit down to talk in the cavern, which is covered in stunning prehistoric paintings which give credence to Dr Van der Voorts theory: modern man migrated into Europe from Africa, not Asia.

Dr Van der Voort confirms again to his son his personal view that modern day man is destroying the planet and that they are killing off each other at a terrible rate.