The narrative begins in a quiet English village when drawn blinds and a sudden death at Littlecote stir gossip among two spinster sisters, and it follows how events and investigations send several characters to Burma. There the story explores colonial social life, cross-cultural encounters, theater and commerce, and the darker urban underworld, including a cocaine den and a violent antagonist, while mysteries, suspicion, and a courtroom sentence escalate the stakes. Personal loyalties are tested as hidden motives and relationships are uncovered, leading to confrontations and a final unravelling that resolves the central enigmas and the fates of those involved.