Rua Kenana was one of many Maori prophetic leaders of the 19th and 20th centuries. He called himself Te Mihaia hou, the new messiah, and was the leader of a section of the Tuhoe at a time when their land, the Urewera country, was threatened by possible prospecting and milling. Withdrawing to Maungapohatu, in the heart of Urewera, he established a community. This work is a history of Rua and his people, of the destruction of the community, by the government during World War I, and the struggle to start all over again.