"If I must die, I prefer the road, somewhere in the steppe, with the beautiful sky above my head..., rather than being killed in a room by regret for not having had enough courage," wrote Alexandra David-Néel in March 1920 from the Chinese Kum-Bum to her husband. Once before, in 1916, she had tried to reach Lhasa, the forbidden city and the seat of the 13th Dalai Lama, but had been turned back at the border to Tibet. Now she is making a second attempt. In February 1921, she sets out with Aphur Yongden, a young monk, defying all prohibitions and opposition. It is a dangerous journey through "heaven and hell." They traverse war-torn areas, threatened by marauding soldiers and bands of robbers. Thousands of kilometers of marches through the desert, over high mountains, and through deep gorges lie behind them.