The book is a meditation on the ideas of the Ego, the Soul and the Higher Self and the differences between them. The narrator is a rather amorphous figure that can actually be anyone who has thought about these issues. There are no characters per sé, but as the novel evolves, night, darkness, the dreaming process, the mind, and thought become the main characters. The story is part of a very long, complex dream that the narrator seems to be going through as he makes his way to the realization that the Higher Self is the source of everything.