McGuire is a young student who is doing graduate work in engineering. He worries about this because his project involves explosive welding...and he is living in Belfast. The story is set during the troubles. He lives with a private fear in a bad part of town. The troubles get to him. But there is another side to McGuire because he supports himself by being in the Territorial Army. He lives with two other students and they have a typical student life, getting drunk, trying to find love, not very successfully. Especially when one of McGuire's girlfriends happens to live at the top of the Protestant Shankill Road and McGuire's "luxury" car is far from being reliable.His father is a Unionist MP and he has an interesting experience at Stormont when he is confronted with the ridiculous nature of politics which leaves him shocked and disillusioned.His army experiences are part of his education. His fellow officers, his soldiers. They are an introduction to another world, very different from that of the typical student. Basically, this is a coming of age story in a time of trouble. In the last chapter, McGuire is far away and finds that the world understands nothing of what he feels. I hope the reader at the end will feel like things have moved on.