Toby Harrison, a Dutch writer of English pulp biographies, accepts an invitation by the Iranian government to write about Reza Shah, the father of the reigning king of Iran, Mohammad.

The situation slowly worsens, although Harrison is capable of ignoring what is going on, even after he's hit by a stone, even after the people at his office no longer turn up, even after he meets the father of Miss Jahanbari, who has had some awful experiences.

Realizing he has to leave Iran, Harrison arranges a ticket for Miss Jahanbari, and arrives at a very chaotic Mehrabad Airport.

Just at the moment when he decides that it is impossible to return home, the young Iranian who has offered him the sexual services of the stewardesses turns up.

With a bunch of roses, he is ready to receive her, but the passenger named Jahanbari turns out to be the father of the woman he loves, who had not known of the affair and is shocked to see the flowers.

Until the last pages, the reader is essentially reading a picaresque novel, which leaves him unprepared for the final scenes, a grim "Postscript" in which it becomes very clear that revolution has little to do with rogues and pranksters.