This novel tells the story of three generations of an Australian-Sri Lankan migrant family. After a bomb explodes near two leading schools in the city of Colombo, he persuades his wife that for the sake of their children they must leave and start a new life in Australia. After her mother passes away, her father - a retired school principal - agrees to join them in Australia.
The novel identifies the travails that beset new migrants from traditional conservative Asian backgrounds to a western oriented materialistic culture, which now accepts migrants from multi-cultural and multi-lingual backgrounds but expects the new arrivals to assimilate and integrate with the society of which they now form a part.
This novel provides deep insights into socio-cultural and psychological barriers encountered by a first generation of Sri Lankan migrants after their arrival in a new country. Through the combined interactions of a few protagonists, the novel depicts the struggles of socio-cultural adjustments, gains and pains of a South Asian migrant family who try to adjust their lives in a country with western socio-economic and cultural values.