 It was on camp in The Ardennes, Belgium that shy Egon Wagter s life took shape. He discovered his fascination for geology and met two important people. Axel van der Graaf, an adventurous daredevil, who drags Egon everywhere he doesn t want to be, and Marjoke, the love of his life. With Marjoke he loses contact, but Axel will cross paths with Egon many times. While Axel makes a career in crime, Egon s dreams are shattered when there s no funding for him to become a geologist. He is forced to take up a teacher job and it doesn t give him satisfaction. A final opportunity comes along, when there s an opening in an American geologist team, but once again he does not have enough money. He takes a giant risk.