In this thrilling story, Gayle Jefferson appears to be just a choreographer for an African dance troupe. In actuality, she is a high priestess who performs annual atonement ceremonies to soothe the souls of the kidnapped Africans who died at sea during the African diaspora. The souls' suffering and anger are manifested as hurricanes that originate off the African west coast and travel along the slave-trade route to the Caribbean and eastern shores of America.