Drawing from European and Middle Eastern mythology, Powers depicts these beings as having qualities of vampires, succubi, incubi, Lamia, fairies, and jinn.
Knowing he will be suspected of murdering his bride, Crawford flees to London and passes himself off as a medical student.
One day while visiting the wards they encounter the grief-stricken Josephine, who attempts to shoot Crawford to avenge her sister.
The nephilim can prolong the lives of humans and serve as muses who help to inspire great works of creativity, but they are extremely jealous and will destroy anyone they see as a rival.
Crawford, Josephine, Shelley, and Byron, all haunted by personal tragedy, must find a way to save themselves and the rest of the world from the nephilim.
"[3] Sue Martin of the Los Angeles Times wrote while Powers "never fails to titillate and elucidate with the dark and the bizarre, and all with such original, eccentric color and style", towards the end of the novel, his "richness becomes a little too heavy and it seems to take far too long to get to the conclusion.