When Janie Paxton, a young journalist with a chequered and painful past of her own, begins to investigate the life of Mama - a visionary, mystical healer, peacemaker to nations - old and terrible memories emerge. Time's mirror distorts: which is the true face of Mama? Miracle - or witchcraft? Absolute good - or unthinkable evil?

Troubled and baffled, Janie untangles the complex web of disclosure and deceit that is Mamas history. She finds a woman irresistible as a force of nature who choose a path that can only have one end, and Janies own life is turned upside down as she becomes a reluctant witness to the story of the century.