High in the remote Caucasus, anthropologist Sam Wendell's extraordinary mission has finally succeeded: he has tracked down the 'almas', the legendary wildmen of the mountain wilderness whom he believes to be the remnants of Neanderthal man. But before he can report his momentous discovery, his jeep, with its world-shattering human cargo, crashes. By the time his wife Julia arrives at the Turkish hospital, Sam is dead.

In her grief, Julia is shocked to find a strange boy beside the coffin, apparently mourning his dead 'father'. Believing this was Sam's intention, and assuming he is just some wild gipsy kid, she decides to adopt the boy and raise him in her own home near Boston, Massachusetts. She names him Adam. He'll be a brother to her sixteen-year-old daughter, Sandy.

In her task she finds herself receiving help from unexpected quarters. Financial aid is offered by the Foundation, the mysterious organisation that funded her husband's work. Moral support comes from Maxine, a zoologist and former colleague (and mistress) of her husband, who takes an unusually close interest in the boy and his problems. Together, Julia and Maxine set about turning this uncontrollable and seemingly backward twelve-year-old into a modern, civilised young boy.