The Bradford in the story is also seriously ill and is visited by the Sandman who takes him on a long journey in his dreams to a stretch of the Gobi called the Desert of Lop. He finds the wild camels and even leads a charge riding on one, chasing away tomb robbers in the sand.

The wild camels are unique because they can drink salt water, but their domestic cousins cannot. They also have never been affected by nuclear testing that was done in the desert as other animals and humans have. Even their offspring are immune. But they and their fragile habitat are endangered. Van Zant includes information at the end of the book about saving these wild camels.

I enjoyed the story but found it to be quite long. It seemed to be trying to tell too much. Also, there are three to five pages of text before a picture is found. Because of this, it is probably best read aloud by chapters, divisions of the story Van Zant does provide.