Paul Theroux's novel takes place in Malawi. The shambling, disturbed republic in Central Africa is tottering between dictator and agitator. Here the ideals of two men - a life insurance salesman fired with missionary zeal and a messianic revolutionary whose speciality is bombs - are tested. When Calvin Mullet of Homemakers Mutual is taken prisoner by the ruthless Marais and attempts to sell him a policy their lives become strangely interwoven.