Christopher Burton Britain's foremost foreign correspondent has returned with his Italian wife to London for an extended stay. One morning he receives a phone call announcing that his teenage son has committed suicide. Why upon hearing the news does he immediately conclude that his marriage of 30 years is over? And why is grief so slow in coming? Analyzing the three decades of his love-hate relationship Burton finds his life a web of contradictions questions and confusions. And yet clearly it has also been his destiny.