In the interregnum leading up to the First Gulf War, a small group of Americans lived and worked in the vast central expanse of the Arabian Peninsula. Bounded by oil fields to the east and Mecca to the west, they came to experience the fundamentals of life among the Arabs. This is the memoir of an ordinary Westerner - a US Air Force officer - at an extraordinary time in an extraordinary place. In the heart of the strict branch of Sunni Islam known as Wahabism, among Arabs slow to socially accept outsiders and proud of their familial and communal history, in an unforgiving environment, they allow a blue-eyed American to appreciate their land, their faith and their allegiances. The import of eye colour is but one insight awaiting the reader. Time will change the American perception of Southwest Asia with long-lasting warfare and plebian stereotypes. It will not change the permanence of the Nejd.