From the back cover: The iron of the bridge felt hot under my hand. The sun had been upon it all day. Gripping hard with my hands I lifted myself on to the bar and gazed down steadily on the water passing under . . . I thought of places I would never see, and women I should never love.

In a moment of crisis, Richard is saved by a passing stranger - Jake. The two men, both at turning points, become firm friends and on a whim set out for adventure, jumping aboard the first ship they see. Their journeys take them to Norway and across Europe, cementing a passionate friendship. But it is in bohemian Paris that Richard finally meets the woman who enables him to fulfil his own artistic promise.