A story filtered through the lives of its feisty female protagonists and the enigmatic "hero" Saman. It is at once an expose of the oppression of the plantation workers in South Sumatra, a lyrical quest to understand the place of religion and spirituality in contemporary lives, a playful exploration of female sexuality and a story about love in all its guises, while touching on all of Indonesia's taboos, extramarital sex, political repression and the relationship between Christians and Muslims.