When Matti Wilson is anchored in Viner Sound he is possessed by the spirit of Jojo, a young Kwakiutl boy held prisoner at a secret Japanese radio base during World War II. Jojo tells Matti the story of his life in a series of seven visions. Matti takes on a contract to map all the clear-cut logging sites on the coast and employs Bessie David as crew on his sailing vessel. She is a feisty young woman who needs the money for university. During the summer she falls in love with this old man. Over three summers she manages to convince him to accept her as his partner. Matti tells his cousin, Caring-well, a Shaman at the village of Gwayasdums about his visions. Caring-well identifies Jojo as her chief's son who went missing in the war. Chief Joseph is head of a rival tribe at Gwayasdums. He had assisted the Japanese to set up the radio base at Viner Sound on the understanding that the Japanese would return their traditional lands when they won the war. However, the Japanese lost the war and Joseph carefully covers his tracks so that his hand in Jojo's fate is not revealed until news of Matti's visions reaches him.