An accident which holds up a London Underground train in the rush hour brings together several people from widely different backgrounds, amongst them a successful businessman, a young Jamaican, a shop assistant, an elderly couple and a university student. They exchange comments but not for long, as the train soon arrives back at the station. They get out, not expecting to meet again; but they are wrong. The book follows their travels and experiences during which, by a series of apparent coincidences, their lives become strangely changed and intertwined. Like their various journeys to different parts of the world, the novel moves at a swift and interesting pace to a profound and moving conclusion.