At the center of this poignant novel is Simon, a successful Johannesburg businessman whose carefully constructed life is rapidly falling apart. Trying to make sense of his misfortunes, he returns to his childhood home in beautiful but uncosmopolitan Zululand, where reminders of his boyhood lead him on a journey of recovery. Joining forces with twins, Jonathan and Sarah, two old friends who have been scarred by a crushing tragedy, Simon begins to respond to the watery beauty of the landscape, which is described with poetic images of marine life and embryology. Gradually, as they watch the teeming animal life around them, these three remarkable characters begin to imagine new births for themselves, finding strength in the knowledge that they are inextricably linked by fate, birth, and the difficult but enriching bonds of love.