Grief and personal crisis take Hamish to a remote island. There, he meets an elderly woman who is trapped with an unexploded landmine under her foot.

This is embodied in Avowed companion Marius, whose entire concept revolves around a quote from John Donne's Devotions: "No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent ...

The true story of George Tweed, an American sailor who became the only serviceman on the island of Guam to avoid capture by the Japanese during the early years of World War II.

In words familiar to many English teachers, the English poet John Donne observed 400 years ago: “No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.