In the first part of the book we see Ayla’s struggle to survive after being forced out of the Clan. The story introduces two brothers, Jondular and Thonalon, traveling on their Journey. Ayla has made great progress in her hunting skills, and she has made friends with both a horse and a cave lion. It is an event sparked by the cave lion that brings the three humans together.

This is the first of a series of six books that take us through the life of Ayla, a Cro-Magnon child who is referred to throughout the book as being one of the Others. Ayla is five when her people are killed in an earthquake. She wanders alone and is near death when she is found by the Clan (Neanderthals). The Clan is searching for a new cave after the earthquake has destroyed their home. Ayla has very few memories of her life before the earthquake and she struggles to learn the very strict rules and traditions of her adopted family. When Ayla is just into her teens she is forced to leave her home with the Clan, but in that short period of time she has become a good hunter, a medicine woman and a mother to a much loved, two-year old son.