Dr. Clifton Griffin, a brilliant and distinguished American physicist, has aged out of the limelight and into retirement and depression. His former college roommate, Main Blackstone, is an American legal scholar who defeats the disadvantages of old age in the United States by spending half his time in the Philippine Islands. Main suggests that Clifton visit the Philippines for a new lease on life. Clifton arrives in Angeles City, famous for its bargirl scene, on the northern Philippine island of Luzon. After a zany weeklong binge of womanizing, he flies to the pristine island of Palawan to photograph birds, and thence to the big southern island of Mindanao, beset with terrorists, to photograph the Great Philippine Monkey-Eating Eagle. In the mountain jungles of Mindanao, Clifton and his guide encounter, battle, and escape a terrorist gang and alert a battalion of the Philippine army, which crushes the gang. Some of the movers and shakers in Mindanao decide Philippine interests would be best served by lionizing Clifton as a hero. Clifton's new fame and resurrected self-esteem, coupled with his lifelong love of fun, propel him into adventures of a very different sort and a very real romance back on Luzon. Caught up with his new sweetheart in an extortionate raid on a popular bar, he distinguishes himself again and learns the inside scoop on the corruption and selfish politics that retard the Philippine economy, oppress the multitudes of Filipino poor, and threaten the status of Angeles City as the match-making magnet of the world. In the process, he interacts with a panoply of true-to-life characters, from powerful to poor -- good, bad, and beautiful. Up to their ears in the plot are Main himself; his delectable, narcissistic young girlfriend Rin Lin; and her own girlfriend Rochelle.