A fifty-foot ketch travels 2,000 miles across France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, and Belgium-a voyage made possible by the vast network of canals linking the great rivers of the Continent.

The Island of Das, somewhere in the Arabian Gulf, is the home for oil-rig men and a vast industry which is bringing wealth and the hope of modernity to Abu Dhabi. This is the story of two viewpoints - of the Europeans who work there temporarily, and of the local people for whom it is a new way of life.