Ken Fretwell, 49, former teacher and disenchanted employment adviser, decides to pack in his job and cycle to Spain, before his judicious nature reins him in and he opts for a flight to Malaga with his touring bike safely stashed in the hold. Having set himself the goal of, "being somewhere I like, doing something that I like doing," by the time he turns 50, he sets out to cycle for weeks, if not months, on end until he finds his dream location. Then a horse crosses his path... ..".and upon it was seated, bareback, a very brown and sinewy man of about my own age dressed in leather sandals, washed out shorts and a short-sleeved blue shirt that had all seen far, far better days." Thus commenced Ken's sojourn at Manolo's homestead cum eco-agricultural project, a.k.a. 'El Proyecto', 'El Refugio', or, by Manolo's mother, "A place in need of a very good clean." Here, under the erratic supervision of the one-time trainee priest, Ken sets about bettering the lives of the horse, poultry, pigs, goats, cats and the eclectic selection of human beings who frequent his mentor's breezeblock mansion. He plans to move on soon, but Manolo's burning desire to build a new society, with Ken in it, cannot be eluded so easily...