American scientists are investigating the fact that Russian scientists have discovered how to transport themselves back in time to learn long-forgotten secrets of the past. That is why young Ross Murdock, above average in intelligence, but a destructively independent nonconformist, finds himself on a clandestine government project at a secret base in the Arctic. The very qualities that make him a menace in civilized society are valuable traits in a man who must successfully act the part of a merchant trader of the Beaker people during the Bronze Age. When they are transferred by a time machine to the remote Baltic region where the Russian post is located, Ross and his partner Ashe are swept into a fantastic action-filled adventure involving Russians, superstitious prehistoric men, and the aliens of a lost galactic civilization that demand every ounce of the Americans' courage.