Jules Kincaid is a child writing prodigy of only fourteen when the novelist Arthur Brolin takes him from the slums of Chicago to a primitive, free lifestyle beach village in Indonesia late in WWI on a one-year writing sabbatical. Brolin says Jules has the necessary talent, but his writing does not yet have passion in it. Brolin isn't the only one who helps Jules to experiences that feed his passion and hone his writing.
After a long separation, Ali comes, without her new husband, to visit Al and his wife. Her ulterior motives become clear when she asks Al to recreate their first sex for his wife. Once again, true elements inspired this CNF story.