Leon Wetherby buys Cabrera Landing, an isolated property on the Indian River Lagoon to be close to his granddaughter. He sees unusual specters around the property. He discovers Cabrera Landing is a stop on an escalator between alternate universes. Hassalla, a cosmic creature, transports Leon and others to the twelfth millennium BCE. In an alternate universe, they face hunger, thirst, and cold, as well as numerous ice-age animals such as saber-toothed tigers, dire wolves and cave bears.fe. When Leon’s granddaughter inherits Cabrera Landing, she decides to sell it to an emissary of Nanya. Nanya quarantines Cabrera Landing to prevent others from going through the same fate as Leon, Annabel and the others.