This book looks at the movements of immigrants and refugees and the challenges they face as they cross cultural boundaries and strive to build a new life in an unfamiliar place. It focuses on the psychological dynamic underpinning their adaptation process; how their internal conditions change over time; the role of their ethnic and personal backgrounds and of the conditions of the host environment affecting the process. Addressing these and related issues, the author presents a comprehensive theory, or a `big picture', of the cross cultural adaptation phenomenon.