Paradise isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Unlucky in love, unlucky in life, Quirke yearns for something more. That indefinable, elusive something.

In his role as a prison counsellor he meets Seff, an enigmatic convict who hints at an earthly Paradise, a place where Quirke may find his heart's desire. When fate and an embittered co-worker conspire to lose Quirke his job, he sets off with his best friend to follow Seff's vague directions.

Concealed by mountains and remote forests in deepest Wales, they stumble across a self-sufficient settlement inhabited by escapees of the pressures of the late twentieth century. When Quirke discovers that they brew their own beer, he feels he has found a way of life that might bring him contentment.

But beer's not the only thing brewing in Paradise...