When army recruit, Sean Donoghue, tries to commit suicide, Lieutenant Phillip Selby, is sent to see him in hospital to make a psychological assessment. Selby realizes that this is a delicate case and that unless Sean undergoes psychotherapy, he is likely to try again. As Sean works through the shadows haunting him to confront myriad layers of abuse and abandonment, everyone around him is affected. Not even Selby is immune and as the political climate in the country worsens, he faces his own growing dilemma in the novel. While is set in South Africa in 1983, and is tied to specifically South African themes of racial obsession and social exclusion, it is also universal. Told with compelling simplicity, the novel offers the hope that whatever forces divide and oppress people, these forces can be overcome through honesty and compassion.