Adam Napier is retrenched from his not-very-interesting job and, finding his prospects bleak on all fronts, accepts an offer from his successful property developer brother to move to a small cottage in a nondescript Karoo town - where he intends to return to writing poetry, something he did with modest success as young man. One day, while buying garden implements in the town's hardware store, Adam is surprised to be recognised and accosted with extravagant delight by Canning, an old school friend who, it seems, has harboured a strong and devoted sense of connection to Adam ever since their school days. And so begins a pattern for Adam, of spending weekends at what is a lush, green, exotic oasis in the middle of a desert, with a couple who are clearly mismatched and uneasy with each other - Baby, spoilt, bored and seemingly indifferent to everything, her husband included, and Canning, as eager to impress Adam as he is to please him, and to show off his spoils and his connections with people in high places whose credentials appear dubious.
