Borouj, a bourgeois entrepreneur, engages Majid, a hard-working sailor, in a quest to locate a hidden treasure. The map, once belonging to the White Spider, had been appropriated by Douah Alaam, a detective with a past as a courtesan, and was entrusted to Ali al Amser, a prominent fishing magnate, who handed the job to Borouj. Borouj and Majid’s journey leads them to a cave of illusions and distortions, testing their resolve. They ultimately discover the treasure, yet the cursed cave has done its damage: Majid smashes Borouj ruthlessly with a shovel and scatters the jewels, cannibalizing Borouj for sustenance until the ship returns.

The second section shifts perspectives to introduce Abdelkadir al Amser; son of Ali al Amser, who invites his French literature professor to share a meal. This exploration delves into the cultural chasms and class disparities of colonial Morocco. Intrigued and challenged by Abdelkadir’s passion for Berber poetry, the professor becomes entangled in a tragic incident when Abdelkadir chokes on a chicken bone. Stranded in a desolate Moroccan house south of Rabat, the professor confronts existential questions that blur the boundaries between life and death, reality and hallucination.

The third section focuses on the lives of Douah Alaam and two young women she has rescued from the prostitution district of Casablanca. This area was explicitly constructed by the French for the entertainment of tourists and soldiers. This narrative thread humanizes the victims of systemic oppression and establishes connections to the treasure and the enigmatic presence of the White Spider. Through the lens of these women’s experiences, the text explores themes of redemption, resilience, and the enduring scars of exploitation. The women track down and kill the White Spider, yet his shadow looms larger, and its sinister influence permeates the lives of those who have come into contact with it.

In a chilling shift, the fourth section reveals the conscience of the White Spider, a former Riffian war hero, blurring the line between reality and his disturbed mental state. Witnessing the brutalities of European colonizers and resenting his own people for capitulating to the French after 700 years of ruling southern Europe, the White Spider is compelled into grotesque rituals that intertwine death, desecration, and dark spirituality. The prose becomes hallucinogenic, capturing the descent into madness and moral decay. The narrative confronts uncomfortable truths about guilt, complicity, dehumanization, and the seductive power of forbidden knowledge. This section ends with the White Spider fully transformed and ready to initiate the evil acts that drive the novel.

The novel concludes with Ali al Amser receiving a letter from Douah Alaam via Mahmoud the sailor. The letter recounts her experience with the White Spider in Casablanca. Meanwhile, Ali’s fishing enterprise in Salé becomes entangled with a ghost ship that only appears at night, infested with a phosphorescent fungus that makes Ali extremely ill, causing him to glow from within. From his gurney, Ali summons Borouj, sharing the letter and the Spider’s treasure map, which leads back to the book’s beginning.