A radical environmentalist's crusade to save an endangered species transforms into a claustrophobic experiment in social isolation and gender-based power dynamics. Dr. Barbara Rafferty leverages a tragic media event to establish a sanctuary on the remote atoll of Saint-Esprit, gathering a group of idealistic followers to live in seclusion. As the island community detaches from the outside world, the internal social structure shifts into a disturbing hierarchy. The narrative, delivered with a clinical detachment, follows Neil Dempsey as he observes the physical and psychological deterioration of his peers and begins to suspect the true nature of their paradise.

This novel is frequently analyzed as a quintessential example of the author's preoccupation with the intersection of technology, environment, and human pathology. Critics often highlight the work's unsettling atmosphere, noting how it mirrors the author's earlier explorations of societal collapse and the fragility of human constructs. The text is recognized for its refusal to provide easy moral answers, instead forcing the reader to confront the darker impulses hidden beneath idealistic rhetoric. The narrative's cold, precise tone serves to heighten the sense of unease as the utopian premise systematically unravels into a nightmare of control and isolation.