This book recounts the experiences of the author while he lived in Kiribati. The author Troost discovers that Tarawa is not the island paradise he dreamed of. Falling into one amusing misadventure after another, Troost struggles through relentless, stifling heat, a variety of deadly bacteria, polluted seas, toxic fish all in a country where the only music to be heard for miles around is "La Macarena." He and his stalwart girlfriend, Sylvia, spend the next two years battling incompetent government officals, alarmingly large critters, erratic electricity, and a paucity of food option; and contending with a bizarre cast of local characters including "Half-Dead Fred" and the self-proclamed Poet Laureate of Tarawa (a British drunkard who's never written a poem in his life). The laugh-out-loud true story of a harrowing and hilarious two-year odyssey in the distant South Pacific island nation of Kiribati which is possibly the worst place on Earth.