In our story we have the Earth some 30 years in the future. The French and British governments decide to harvest the Sahara desert by flooding it, creating "the New Sea". Yet we discover that underneath the desert floor exists a huge colony of 'secret people', ... actually ancient pygmies. A dashing British couple unfortunately find themselves underground and held as prisoners by these people, in addition to hundreds of other prisoners. Of course the flooding of the desert and the yearning to escape unsettles matters....