If he suddenly found what surrounded him unbearable, it was because it was artificialEverything had been designed and manufactured, he was trapped in itPhilip Notman, a celebrated historian, attends a conference in Bergen, Norway. On his return to London and to his wife and son, he finds himself irrevocably changed and unable to settle back into his normal life. Instead, he is overcome with a deep revulsion for the consumerism, powerlessness and emptiness of modern technological civilization.Seeking answers, he flies to Cadiz to unite with Ines, an attractive Spanish academic with whom he shared a connection, and after a chance encounter with a wealthy elderly couple, spends the summer in their house in Crete. He embarks on a journey for deeper meaning, to make sense of both his domestic life and the world around him, one that could lead to ultimate disaster.