In the markets of the East, mysterious "seeds" are sold that, according to ancient beliefs, have the power to favor the birth of male children.

In this novel, when the narrator, a French entomologist specializing in scarab beetles, acquires some on a trip to Egypt, he does not suspect that humanity has already entered a critical period in our history. Indeed, almost everywhere the births of female children are decreasing, without an apparent reason. Are these "seeds" the cause of this curse?

Seeking an explanation, the scientist and his companion embark on a research that takes them to the depths of Africa...

This is the novel of the end of a century, our own century, filled with anxiety and fear that mankind and our world are heading towards their own destruction. But it also casts an anxious gaze towards the next, the twenty-first century, which is already at our doorstep and is mysteriously called by the author the first century after Béatrice.