Henry Hayes Middleton is a staunch product of a proper education who seeks a career in the Foreign Office. While pursuing that professional path he unconsciously conducts a spiritual search that runs alongside his ambitions. That search is ultimately completed through the intervention of a woman who would seem an unlikely influence. The story follows how his inner search and his professional ambitions intersect and evolve.

A low-level Party member named Winston Smith struggles to maintain his sense of truth and individuality in a totalitarian state where omnipresent surveillance, propaganda, and constant historical revisionism control citizens’ thoughts and memories. Secretly rebelling by keeping a diary and entering a furtive relationship with Julia, he seeks human connection and objective reality but is betrayed and arrested by the Thought Police. Subjected to systematic psychological and physical torture and manipulation by the Inner Party, he is forced to betray Julia and ultimately relinquish his resistance, accepting the Party’s imposed reality and professing love for its leader. The story is a stark examination of power, language, memory, and the obliteration of personal freedom.

Set in a village, the book is a psychological study of the community and of those who come into contact with a blind man and his young bride. It explores the community's reactions and the interpersonal dynamics that arise as others interact with the couple. The emphasis is on character and social observation rather than external action.

Julie Wells and Barry Irving share an idyllic love that is threatened by Jo-Jo, an imaginary companion from Julie's childhood. Jo-Jo sets forces in motion to keep Julie to himself. Julie turns to psychiatrist Russell Dunn for help as the couple faces this challenge. The story centers on Julie's attempts to deal with Jo-Jo and on the couple's response to the threat.

Thel Riley is a veteran big game hunter. He is hired by a wealthy Eastern businessman to guide the man and his son on a treacherous hunt. Riley leads the businessman and his son into the hunt and acts as their guide throughout the dangerous outing. The book follows Riley as he guides the father and son through the treacherous hunt.