A Greek immigrant to Canada when he was a boy, Byron longs to rediscover his roots in a flowery retirement cottage overlooking the aquamarine Mediterranean. The magical island of Crete is his chosen destination, a homeland that his irrepresible friend Theo describes as “the epicentre of the earth… a place that has never subdued…” Until, that is, Byron arrives.

Theo convinces Byron that retirement is for dead people, and that the only purpose of life is to build a restaurant in a tiny seaside resort in southern Crete. Byron plunges in with both feet, refusing to heed his Canadian scepticism. Along the way he encounters a well-tuned Greek chorus of characters in one of the most beautiful islands on earth. Each painstaking step in the construction of the restaurant is fueled by interesting labor practices, natural and man-made disasters and, above all, encounters with glorious Greek cuisine.

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