Explaining himself to himself and the boy he loves, Ziya tells Adam the stories of his life: A bilingual childhood and years in cosmopolitan Istanbul, city of the world's desire, and the Aegean resort of Bodrum. A bewildering trip by ship and train and jet across Europe and the Atlantic to college in America, that strange and terrifying country. Friendships, passionate affairs, one-night stands, rape--a richly dissatisfying erotic education. A wedding, a death, an act of inexplicable violence--a meeting. Intricate as Ottoman miniatures, Ziya's stories reveal a world unexpected: the world we live in.