This book is about the quest of shepherd boy (Santiago) from Spain who embarks on a journey  to discover his destiny which leads him  through Tangier to the Egyptian pyramids following the ‘omens’ which he meets throughout his journey. Santiago meets a range of people from a gypsy woman who he promises 10% of his earnings, a mysterious rich king who he exchanges his sheep for in return for Urrim and Thummin, a glass shop owner who he works for briefly, an Englishman prepared to embark on his own journey of discovering the final secrets of Alchemy and a girl he meets at the oasis named Fatima to which he falls deeply in love with, and finally the alchemist who helps him discover his true destiny in the desert.

This text relates to Marxism in the sense that Santiago is merely a shepherd who has fallen in love with a girl in his hometown whose father owns a shop that Santiago visits twice a year to sell wool to. However, because Santiago is merely a shepherd he obtains a significantly lower social ranking in his hometown as opposed to the baker who the rich highlights upon their encounter informing Santiago that although they rely on the wool from his sheep they are above him and the baker would be most likely to receive the blessing from the shop owner. In this, the shepherds represent the proletariat to who the bourgeois rely gravely on.