What was it like to work as a missionary in Taiwan in the 1970s? This is the story of the interlocking lives of four such people. Rose, a Blackburn girl, is fun-loving, but has to adapt to a more regimented existence as she cares for the girls in a seminary and gets involved in their problems. Peter, son of not very caring parents in Keswick, is involved mainly with Chinese students but partly with the American community: he has to decide whether to marry an old flame or look for another relationship. Alleyne, an American bur born to missionary parents in China, is very 'old school' and critical of the current generation; but as she faces big personal problems she has to take a new look at her life. Arnold was a journalist in Belfast: now he is running a bookshop in Taiwan but sometimes wonders if he has made the right decision.