An illustrated book tracing Andrew Eames" travels in SE Asia as a young and naive Cambridge graduate. He examines how travel influenced his life and growth in the course of describing events including Thai hill-tribes, a monsoon in a tin shack in Malaysia, an Indian holy city and sailing in a junk-rigged prahu across the turbulent Timor Sea. He describes the crossing of his personal "shadow line" between sanity and insanity, youth and maturity.