The book is a colourful and daringly honest memoir about a young Australian woman's three-year adventure in South America and Mexico with a cocaine-addicted Peruvian artisan who made traditional jewellery out of semi-precious stones and silver wire. It is set in 1995, before the internet and mobile phones made everything less romantic. It's an edgy, streetwise story rich in descriptive detail and drenched in sex, love, drugs, dancing and death. It is part-love story, part travel-adventure and part-quest for self-acceptance and belonging.