Returning to his home town of Ramallah after long exile, the author is shocked to find the changes wrought, above all, by the Israeli occupation. An account--informative, lyrical and humorous by turn--of his own early life in the town is interwoven with vivid descriptions of the place then and now, against a background of the town's long and varied history. A poignant evocation of time passing is joined to a sense of the brutal disruption brought about by the ongoing political situation.