Christopher Columbus was not the first European to discover America; he was merely the first man to go there with a gun, making it possible for a small ship-load of Europeans to defend a landing against the attacks of the natives. Previous to Columbus the American continent had been visited repeatedly by the Norse-men from the first visit of Leif Ericsson in the year A.D. 1003, but the armament of the Norsemen was little better than that of the American Indians, and they never succeeded in establishing a colony.

In this book Nevil Shute has told the fascinating story of the events that led up to the first discovery of America by Leif Ericsson. The story is told in the form of a film play, or 'treatment'; the form in which a story-teller presents his work to film technicians to be worked up into a scenario or shooting script. Readers will agree that this mode of presentation suits this story very well and makes for easy reading of this rapid action tale.