It is the summer of 1940, and Lisbon is the only neutral port left in Europe – a city filled with spies and refugees of every nationality, tipping back absinthe to pass the time until they can escape. Awaiting safe passage to New York, two couples meet: Pete and Julia Winters, expatriate Americans fleeing their sedate life in Paris; and Edward and Iris Freleng, sophisticated, wealthy, bohemian and beset by all the social and sexual anxieties of their class. As Portugal’s neutrality and the world’s future hang in the balance, the hidden threads of their lives begin to come loose. This journey will change the four of them irrevocably.