Filled with humor and irony, this novel depicts the wayward life of an American expatriate living in Barcelona. This first-person narrator describes the folly of teaching ESL with no formal training, along with all of his alcoholic escapades (the two are not always separate). But the real driving force behind the story is the connection that he makes with other expatriates, including his anti-American roommate from Argentina, a sex-obsessed teacher who has become ill, and an angry fellow American, who ultimately brings him to the brink of his own collapse. In all, this collection of misfits illuminates (for better or worse) the sensual and treacherous life of the foreigner living in Spain.