A small group of teachers from around the world start their careers in a new and exciting school in Mandalay, a city in northern Myanmar. They form lasting relationships with one another that shape and define the rest of their lives. From their students and each other they learn about love and life until one event, equally hopeful and tragic, sends cracks through the foundation of their community and threatens to bring everything crumbling down around them. In his debut novel, Michael Charles tells the poignant yet inspiring stories of these people. They arrive in Mandalay separately but leave intertwined. The grand spiraling conclusion brings the characters back together from across borders, grown and changed for a last bittersweet moment, one that all started in Mandalay.