In the shadow of Java’s constantly erupting volcanos, the Blairs descend from the crater of the newly erupting ‘Child of Krakatoa” to encounter a world of medieval courts, mystical shadow-puppet plays, forgers of magical swords, healers with spernatural powers and whole communities ruled by the powerful "Spirit of the South Seas”. Back in Bali, they meet such sages as the master artist Nyoman Lempad, who was to die a conscious death on the day of his choosing at the age of 116. And among the Toraja people of the Sulawesi highlands, they share in the massive funeral rites of the last king of the tribe that believes its ancestors came from the stars in sky ships.