Kjell Bergqvist is a priest for the Swedish church in Thailand, and he is happy with his easy life in an exotic paradise. Maybe he drinks a little too much and maybe he flirts a little too much with the married women.

Six American grad students have arrived in Africa to study apes with a renowned professor. But after setting up camp in a jungle clearing, they soon become witness to the carnage inflicted by the strange and remote species.

In 1816, the thirty-five year old Baroness, Jacquette Du Rietz dies. Count Gustaf Piper's grief is huge and in his despair he lets embalm his beloved Jacquette.