In Tudor times, Ankerita killed her husband for abusing her, and his family walled her up in an anchorite cell for the rest of her life. Not content with that, they eventually gave her a poison which paralyzed her, and then buried her alive.
Her soul remained suspended between this life and the next for centuries, gradually developing in power and determination to escape, until a couple of young villains come to deface the ruin where she is buried. One of them, unknown, to him, is psychic.
She tricks him and escapes, but a bond remains between them. The boy is struggling to regain control of his body as Ankerita sets off on a series of trials in this strange modern world to which she must adjust, without official identity or support.
Ankerita's journey takes her through long shifts in a cheap hotel, where she meets a disinterested friend and a ghostly, amorous highwayman, through a spell with a debauched heavy metal rock band, and into a desolate house with a group of homeless people. She has a flirtation with an overzealous policeman, and is always on the run from would-be rapists and slavers.
But finally she must face the destiny, this modern day odyssey is drawing her ever towards…