Larry Darrell is a young American in search of the absolute. The progress of this spiritual odyssey involves him with some of Maugham's most brillant characters
- his fiancee Isabel whose choice between love & wealth have lifelong repercussions & Elliot Templeton her uncle a classic expatriate American snob. The most ambitious of Maugham's novels this is also one in which Maugham himself plays a considerable part as he wanders in & out of the story to observe his characters struggling with their fates.