Jilted by a fickle former pupil Rachel sometime ago, school teacher Nick had yearned someday she would return to him as predicted in the Tarot Cards he had read at the time. To his joy, Rachel does return .but the world has moved on since.

Amir is an illegal Pakistani immigrant smuggled into England in the 1960's to work, to send money to his family and perhaps even bring them over with him. A skilled laborer, he is forced to do unskilled work like shoveling sheep dung and processing wool. He lives in a boarding house with nearly a dozen other men, under the supervision of Hussein Shah. He befriends a young student, Sakib, who dreams of being a writer. Their existence is punctuated by secret movies, a visiting prostitute, fear of detection and deportation, and the gangster-like smuggler who comes by for his take every week. The household is shaken up by the arrival of a white girl, Shah's girlfriend, and the sense of femininity and family she brings.

A man's life is turned upside down when he receives a mysterious photograph in the post.

Malcolm and Jo are eagerly anticipating a quiet retirement but find that their adult children are in no hurry to leave the family home.