 Hale, an American astronaut (Johnson) dies and is reincarnated with other persons who have lived throughout all of human history and end up on a mysterious planet called  Riverworld . The humans are left to their own devices and create tribal fiefdoms and succumb to brutal wars and raids. A mysterious race of hooded  beings  oversee them - sometimes intervening, but their motives are unknown. Anyone who has ever lived and died on Earth comes here rather than  the afterlife , even an extra-terrestial call Monat, who had the unfortunate luck of dying on Planet earth in 2039. Hale leads a revolt and joins with others on a large boat to explore this mysterious new world.