In the assessment of Alfie Howard and Diane Nelson, The novel is set in a fantastical reimagining of thirteenth-century Estonia during the Northern Crusades, when the land is being invaded and settled by Germanic Christians.

Kivirähk's novel tells the story of Leemet, one of the last Estonians to continue living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the forest, which the rest of his people are gradually abandoning in favour of village life, agriculture and Christianity.

Leemet is also one of the last people — by the end of the novel, the very last person — to speak Snakish, an ancient language that was taught to humans by snakes many generations ago and that gives speakers the power to control most animals.

Leemet's people have lived in close relation to the non-human world for millennia, practicing their traditional spirituality in sacred forest groves, hunting animals for meat, telling myths and stories and embarking on complex relationships with members of non-human animal species, especially snakes, wolves and bears.

[4] The novel has been translated into English (2015), as well as Czech (2011), Latvian (2011), French (as L'Homme qui savait la langue des serpents, 2013), Russian (2014), Danish (2015), Dutch (2015), Hungarian (2015), Spanish (2017), German (2017), Macedonian (2019), Lithuanian (2020)[5] and Polish (2020).