Garland's novel centers on a young nicotine-addicted traveler named Richard, an avid pop-culture buff with a particular love for video games and Vietnam War movies. While at a hotel in Bangkok, he finds a map left by his strange, whacked-out neighbor, who just committed suicide. The map supposedly leads to a legendary island paradise where some other wayward souls have settled.

Joe is a professional hit man who picks someone off the street to do his errands, and after he is finished kills that person. His next assignment takes him to Bangkok, and as usual, he finds a street-wise guy named Kong to help him. After Kong has a close call and learns who Joe is, Kong asks him to train him and he does. Joe also meets a local girl who is deaf and spends time with her. However, Joe has a hard time keeping his other life from her. It also appears that the person who hired Joe, breaks his rule of complete anonymity and tries to find him.

In 1862, a young Englishwoman becomes royal tutor in Siam and befriends the King.