Ayla and Jondalar meet the Mamutoi-the Mammoth Hunters--people like Ayla. Ayla finds herself torn between the wildly jealous Jondalar and the master carver Ranec.

After their epic journey across Europe, Ayla and Jondalar have reached his home, the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the old stone age settlement in the region known today as southwest France. Jondalar's family greet him warmly, but they are initially wary of the beautiful young woman he has brought back, with her strange accent and her tame wolf and horses. Ayla has much to learn from the Zelandonii and much to teach them.

Continuing the story of Ayla and Jondalar, Auel combines her brilliant narrative skills and appealing characters with a remarkable re-creation of the way life was lived more than 25,000 years ago.

Eleanor and her mother Samantha are working seperately and preparing for a journey to find the Master Concentrator when an alien spacecraft lands on Earth and throws the globe into a crisis that Eleanor works to control.

Still trying to stop the evil Dr. Kron-Tox, Andrew, his cousin Judy, Thudd the robot, and Beeper find Uncle Al in the Ice Age, where they encounter prehistoric animals, birds, and people.