Aisla, a grammar school girl from Shropshire, marries Joe, an RAF sergeant stationed in Egypt. There her friendship with Mona, a Palestinian concert pianist, blossoms and flourishes as Aisla tastes new freedoms that cross dangerous racial, sexual and social boundaries. Private and political worlds collide as the Suez crisis looms closer and her marriage reaches a painful, destructive and violent crisis that impacts on her daughter's future.
