A gripping epic between the last of the Neanderthals and the new emerging race of Homo Sapiens. When a deadly plague devastates the Blue Shell tribe, three young friends band together for the perilous journey to the territory of the Tree People. Duru, the girl, is eagerly accepted for her magical powers. But the two young men must prove themselves worthy by hunting down and destroying the giant Neanderthal - the last of his line - who has been terrorising the tribe

The first novel in Jean M. Auel's magnificent epic sweeps the reader back 25 000 years to a cold, ancient time when two kinds of human beings, Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon, shared our world. Its heroine is Ayla, a courageous and indomitable young woman whose story begins when she is a five year old orphan adopted by The Clan, a group of Neanderthals. Ayla inspires first surprise, then wariness and finally acceptance by the Clan. She is cared for by its medicine woman Iza and its wise holy man Creb. But she makes an implacable enemy of the group's future leader.