When Melinda Kaibell takes a farewell tour through the Cretan archaeological dig where she's been volunteering, she finds herself face to face with the Bronze Age goddess, Askar.

Askar tells Melinda that she has a little side job for her. "Carry a message to My people," she says, "tell them to go to their safe place. If you do this, you will be perfectly placed to go home."

The goddess never says Melinda will be transported nearly four thousand years in the past to deliver the message or that Mount Thera is on the verge of eruption and the destruction of the Minoan civilization is imminent. Then there's the part about falling in love with a handsome animal magician once she gets there and the impossibility of a relationship bounded by time and duty.