Leaving their Welsh hill farm behind, Nick, Ros & their children arrive on the little-known island of Ikaria in 1978, having impulsively boarded the first ferry leaving Athens. Escape to Ikaria tells the story of how they become involved with the islanders & their way of life. Nick tries his hand at anything to get by: night fishing out in the Aegean, unloading the potato boats from Samos, mixing cement for wayward house-builder Datsun Jim, & tending the gardens of the old monastery where a solitary nun, Sister Ulita, controls the village`s water supply.