From rural Canada to Spain and North Africa, and from jobs as a journeyman writer and reporter, Lew Holle's life follows an apparently random course. Without a plan beyond a determination to remain an outsider, he falls guiltlessly into the life of the drug smuggler, transporting ancient hashish dreams from old lands to modern, dissatisfied Western youth. When a moment's incaution sends Lew out of the drug trade with a slam of prison doors, he finally makes an active choice about what to do next, electing to drop out even further from the main currents of life. In the forests of British Columbia, a cabin in the woods provides perfect insulation from the ugly and almost infectious world he rejects.