Michael Zabinsky is an iconoclastic science teacher with a revolutionary zeal to enrich the lives of his pupils and create a better world. Driven by the idealism of youth as a volunteer in 1970s Botswana, he finds his dedication to teaching tested to destruction on returning to England. But Michael doesn't just teach - he thinks. He contemplates the human condition. He confronts racism and political correctness, and after 9/11, Islamism. He tries to juggle the demands of his job with those of his personal life. And there is a twist. At a reunion with Michael's fellow Botswana volunteers, it transpires that something unforeseen has happened to the village where they used to teach. What has become of their former pupils? Does Michael need to reevaluate his time in Africa?