In 1952, John Taverner, recently discharged from the British army, meets Felix Mole by chance on platform three of the Swindon railway station. Mole is the owner of Sam's, a saloon and gaming establishment in Tangier. Over a British railways breakfast, Felix offers John a job looking after the accounts at Sam's, should he ever be in Tangier. Disillusioned with life in postwar England, young Taverner throws caution to the wind and takes...