Disillusioned with the tedium of life in the UK, Jeff Sparks spends months each winter roaming Thailand. Increasingly drawn to the liberation of a tropical climate and the ease with which Thai people enjoy life, Jeff yearns to feel more involved. Eviction from his U.K. flat by an overbearing local authority propels Jeff to move to Thailand where he soon finds a job teaching English alongside fellow ex-pats in a private Bangkok school owned by a matriarch who regards all the staff as members of her own family. Jeff and the teachers try to establish new lives and families in the Land of Smiles...