Henry Pulling, a retired bank manager, meets his septuagenarian Aunt Augusta for the first time in over 50 years at his mother’s funeral. Soon after, she persuades Henry to abandon South wood, his dahlias and the Major next door to travel through Brighton, Paris, Istanbul, Paraguay...

Accompanying his aunt, Henry joins a shiftless, twilight society: mixing with hippies, war criminals and CIA men, as well as smoking pot, breaking all the currency regulations and eventually coming alive after a dull suburban life.