With a strong sense of local colour these six darkly humorous stories reveal the influence of place and time on the thoughts and actions of a varied cast of characters, from a bookshop worker in Kathmandu; to a homosexual Scotsman in 1970s Saudi-Arabia; to a Christian Sri Lankan in Rwanda; to a group of British civil servants fighting for the best overseas posting; to a multiple sclerosis sufferer in Botswana; to a washed up expatriate retired to Kent.