In the salad days of his youth, Aureliano lived and worked in Africa, and the romance and exotic quality of those days remains with him still. These days, he lives a predictable existence, fending off the efforts of his female friend and former lover from those days to infuse some zest into his life. When he is approached by two anxious natives from the Ivory Coast looking for assistance, his stolid existence is shattered. The woman is on the run from the Italian underworld prostitution ring she worked for after stealing their drug stash, and the unsophisticated man is her Senegalese protector, whose family maintains some connections with Aureliano. When the gang kills the Senegalese, the former African's hand is forced into a relationship with the prostitute, and he gradually gains a fresh purpose in life.
by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
