The main characters travel to Haiti on the "Medea," a Dutch ship serving the capital Port-au-Prince and the Dominican Republic. The narrator is Mr. Brown, returning from an unsuccessful trip to the United States to sell his hotel, located in the capital. Other figures are Mr. Smith, a US Presidential candidate who ran on the vegetarian ticket in the 1948 United States presidential election; he and Mrs. Smith plan to build and operate a vegetarian centre in Haiti. "Major" Jones, an Anglo-Indian businessman, is personable and has many war stories that are not quite believable.