Retired Boston police officer Lenny Biggs moves to Bangkok, Thailand after a bland and unfulfilling career in police records. Now Lenny can finally relax and enjoy paradise for the rest of his days. But retirement isn't all it's cracked up top be, and when Lenny becomes enraptured by Bee, a stunning transsexual prostitute, who introduces him to the city's forbidden delights, the cauldron begins to simmer. Everything is changed irrevocably when Lenny and a volatile expat friend decide to visit Bee for an unforgettable party, a night which changes Lenny's destiny in an unimaginable way.
Ray Dressler, Brown University graduate and veteran space miner, has returned to Providence, Rhode Island where he now works as a curriculum designer. Haunted by foggy recollections of of his time with the unstable Unitan Corporation on the planet Miro, Ray begins to write about his stint, dredging up repressed memories of claustrophobia, simmering unrest, and tragic first contact.
