Reclusive mathematician Stephen Ezard returns to England after years in China, finds his brother's widow, and becomes entangled in a plot involving a new national database (TIA) and a terrorist scheme.

Amir is an illegal Pakistani immigrant smuggled into England in the 1960's to work, to send money to his family and perhaps even bring them over with him. A skilled laborer, he is forced to do unskilled work like shoveling sheep dung and processing wool. He lives in a boarding house with nearly a dozen other men, under the supervision of Hussein Shah. He befriends a young student, Sakib, who dreams of being a writer. Their existence is punctuated by secret movies, a visiting prostitute, fear of detection and deportation, and the gangster-like smuggler who comes by for his take every week. The household is shaken up by the arrival of a white girl, Shah's girlfriend, and the sense of femininity and family she brings.

As they finish yet another long shift in the kitchen, six workers discuss their aspirations and failed dreams, while the boss upstairs counts his takings.