A wise Canadian Indian named Jimmy travels to New Zealand, there he meets a young girl named Wai and her Nanny.
Nanny has saved Wai from her abusive and cruel mother and adopted Wai as her own child setting Wai free. Jimmy and Nanny marry; they then teach Wai many things about the earth’s natural environment. Nanny also teaches Wai -The Way of Plants - A traditional Māori way of healing using plants found in the wild places of New Zealand. While hunting for plants one day, Wai discovers an ancient bone flute in a mysterious lake in the forest. Wai is then taken deeper into the forest than she has ever been by a spirit guide and there she learns many things. A few months later, one stormy night, a stranger arrives at Nanny’s house - his leg is wounded and swollen. Near death the man spends the night under Nanny’s care and a strange and uncanny destiny awaits Wai as the stranger becomes known to her. What follows can only be gauged by Wai’s curiosity and an intricate weaving of lives.