On a hot humid day, Tristan Blake is trying to hitch a ride past Kerikeri. It is summer in New Zealand, 2030: the temperature is rising, and Tristan is looking to get away from it all, after retiring from Peace-making army duty in the Middle East. An old red Holden Ute pulls up on the side of the road, and a Maori priest, Rau Petera, invites Tristan on a ride to Ninety Mile Beach. Keen to fish, Tristan agrees: but there on the expansive sand, trying to escape the rising tide, Rau and Tristan stumble across Joshua Davidson, from Kaitaia. Rau follows Joshua into the rising sea, and Joshua catches Rau a record snapper with no bait. Now Rau and Tristan find themselves driving Joshua on a once-in-a-lifetime road-trip down the centre of the North Island toward the Beehive in Wellington. Joshua is reminding Rau of someone: he is finding a new kind of faith. But Tristan is being thrown into increasing confusion and dismay, when he finally realizes what he must do to end the growing threat of Joshua.