On the day the world ends . . .

. . . Mau is on his way home from the Boys' Island. Soon he will be a man.

And then the wave comes - a huge wave, dragging black night behind it and bringing a schooner which sails over and through the island rainforest.

The village has gone.

The Nation as it was has gone.

Now there's just Mau, who wears barely anything, a trouserman girl who wears far too much, and an awful lot of big misunderstandings . . .