Jingo is something of a drifter who lives on money from his parents, part-time employment as a market researcher, and fantasies of being a writer. After a moment of rash bravery -- standing up to a bully of a policeman -- he finds himself forced to lie low for a while. Hiding out in the underbelly of the city slums and escaping into memories of the past, Jingo recalls his cosseted childhood as the apple of his mother's eye and -- sometimes -- the bane of his father's existence; the loss of his older brother (who died before Jingo was born); his days at school and college; his long-standing and destructive relationship with Cris, a middle-class East Indian girl, and the woman he once thought the love of his life.

But as past and present collide -- and collude -- to force Jingo to consider his life so far, he realises he must decide what he wants before it is too late.