Alive to his senses and at odds with the lacklustre world to which he is obliged to conform in order to survive, Nico in Australia begins in his early teens to push the boundaries and sets off in search of a deeper reality.
After several unfulfilling sexual adventures and four years of tank regiment during the Second World War, he finds himself wandering through Africa, till in Zanzibar he meets his destiny in the person of the poet and sexual adventuress Jacqueline.
In Amsterdam their fatal passion leads Nico to six months in a psychiatric ward, after which, though at one once more with his true self, he is totally alone.
Hiding himself in the mountains of Provence, he continues to push the boundaries and risk his sanity by probing for a reality that will match his poetic ardor and will endure.
It is only on his return to Australia and the advent of Felicity that his mission is accomplished and the circle complete.