The Universe is mind-bogglingly vast. I see no reason why there should not be other planets very similar to Earth. Okraalom is one such 'sister planet'. There are slight differences in flora and fauna, and naturally its history is rather different, but there's enough similarity to place its stage of development (in this story) at about four hundred years behind where we are now. Thus it presents an impression of the beginnings of 'modernism' and the 'Age of Enlightenment'. Changes are resisted, of course, and that provides the conflicts that engulf the many characters in exciting adventures and relationships.

At the center of a turbulent time of change is a reluctant crown princess. Though many would favor her becoming a ruling queen, there are powerful political and religious forces both within her kingdom and outside who are determined to take the sovereignty of her country in a different direction. This is the story of the quest this royal maid feels she must go on in order to find understanding of herself and her destiny. It is almost equally the story of the friends who fight for the cause she represents for them, and of the enemies who fight against that cause for their own vested interest or glorification.

In the background, back a hundred years, but with much influence on the development of this story, is a terrible event celebrated in a ballad filled with an atmosphere of 'supernatural' horror. It is in discovering the secret of this ballad that the princess must try to fulfill her quest, but that can lead her into peril of her life.