Lionel is a young boy growing up with his elder brother and two sisters. In his class there is a beautiful girl called Mercy. She is the sprint queen of the school. Lionel is the youngest boy in the class and much too young to sort some of his feelings but feels sure he is in love with her.

He is, however, too shy to declare his feelings. After final-year exams the two go to different schools and only meet occasionally during the holidays. He is also in love with Maria, a neighbour. Unfortunately, he has to drop out of school due to fee problems.

He is now confident with the opposite sex and has many lovers, and now this too, like his earlier bumbling incompetence, becomes a source of heartache and frustration. Life becomes a supreme paradox, a jigsaw that could destroy or replenish, in equal measure, to sharp extremes.

The nexus it weaves is a sinister trap from which, by seeming happenstance and only narrowly, a lost and questing individual could perhaps escape.