Armed with a graduate degree in Biological Sciences, the author leaves for the Caribbean to join her husband who has been recruited to the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. Excited at the prospect of living in this vibrant culture, her enthusiasm to make a contribution is challenged as she encounters the difficulties facing a society in transition. Once they begin a family the challenges increase and she finds herself gradually isolated. Writing about her experiences and documenting the obstacles faced raising her children provide new insights into the subtleties of a multi-racial society.