For Australians Alex and Debra Grainger, expat life in the tiny Shangri-La of Brunei is not always idyllic. Living in a patriarchal Islamic country in the 1970s is challenging for Debra as she struggles to deal with the grief of losing her child, an unfulfilled marriage with a career-focused husband. While teaching at a local college, Debra meets Rahim, who shares her love of poetry but the secret letters they exchange express more than their love of poetry. Breaching the strict cultural mores of an unyielding society they discover the complexity and danger of forbidden love