A chance meeting at a dinner party in Paris turns the life of Philip Reid, an aging and cynical American diplomat, upside down, sending him back more than twenty years to when he had been a younger and better man. In those days, for a brief moment, Bandula, scion of the island's most powerful family, had been Philip's closest friend. Now, he finds his onetime companion bitter and humbled by life. In a tale marked by terrorist bombings, political assassination, romance, and intrigue, we follow the tragedies that lead Bandula to a life in exile and Philip to the attainment of dreams that lose their meaning even in the moment of their fulfillment. In their serendipitous meeting, both men gain a chance at redeeming the past.