After being shipwrecked for some six months, Angus Douglas returns home to find his fiancee, Helen, has died. Distraught he delves into the occult hoping to find a way to meet her again. He chances upon some ancient Egyptian texts which show how to project the psyche from the body, while leaving the body in suspended animation, and decides to attempt going to Venus. Douglas tells his brother of his plans, then enters a tomb to begin the process of projecting his body beyond the mortal coil.
In telling his story Douglas recounts that he entered the body of the Venusian king, Angilin, who has lain in a trance for fifty years. Able to speak the Venite tongue but with no memory of Angilin's life, he undergoes a series of adventures among the various races of the planet and falls in love with one of its queens, Hellonee (who turns out to be the reincarnation of Helen).