The storyline opens in Tibet in the year 1943, wherein one of its protagonists, a Tibetan monk, is informed that he has fulfilled the prophecies made of him – he has fought an army of enemies while a flock of cranes circled above; fought for love at the palace of Jade; saved brothers whom he did not know from a family he never had; and forsaken his name.

He is then entrusted by his master with the protection of a Scroll which contains knowledge by which the reader becomes the most powerful of living things – a protection that will keep him youthful and immunize him to injury until, at the close of 60 years, he must pass the knowledge to an heir. The master, who has formerly been the guardian of this Scroll, is killed by German soldiers shortly after the transfer. His pupil, the now nameless Monk, escapes despite the Nazi commander’s expectations…