Edith Szekeres is 167 years old and has no idea how she managed to achieve that. At an early age she made a vow to banish indignation from her life and she's quite sure that affected her relationship with the world in terms of its people and politics. She begins to wonder about the benefit received as well as the price paid and decides to embark upon a voyage of self discovery. From her mildly depressing retirement home in Westhampton upon Sea she becomes an ancient root in search of her branches. She relives her Hungarian childhood, re-experiences the way in which she was forced to leave her homeland and makes a return journey to South Africa to re-examine the Englishness that followed. It's a very late voyage of self and family discovery for a woman who, above her sense being a self contained, was always prepared to be surprised.