A successful, middle-aged novelist with a case of "bad nerves," Gilbert Pinfold embarks on a recuperative trip to Ceylon. Almost as soon as the gangplank lifts, Pinfold hears sounds coming out of the ceiling of his cabin: wild jazz bands, barking dogs, and loud revival meetings.

He is convinced that an erratic public-address system is letting him hear everything that goes on aboard ship... until instead of just sounds, he hears voices. Voices talking, in the most frighteningly intimate way, about him!
(from the publisher)