Hav itself is imagined to be a cosmopolitan small independent peninsula located somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean.

The novel proceeds with little in the way of connecting plot but contains several episodes describing the author's subjective experience in Hav.

The author narrates a string of evocative episodes including visiting a languid casino, a courteous man claiming to be the true Caliph, watching a citywide roof race, and a visit to the mysterious British agency.

The novel concludes with the author's invited visit to a strange ritual conclave where she observes several cowled men whom she thinks she might recognize as her acquaintances from her time in Hav.

The similarity in style to travel literature and the evocative nature of the fiction make genre classification difficult.