Harriet and David from the very beginning manage to fulfill the wonderful dream of all newlyweds: they have a large and comfortable house, a stable income, four happy and lovely children and a bunch of loving relatives. Holidays in their home are abundant celebrations of life and family happiness. And then they have a fifth child. Just a child, nothing supernatural... But is he a person? 12 years after the publication of the first novel about Ben, Doris Lessing decided to show what happened to her hero, who frightened more than one generation of readers when he found himself among people.