The stories. The last days of Peping Santos -- A man of letters -- The names and faces of people -- I seek kindness from the triangled eye -- Go away -- Cast the first stone -- The party hopper -- The search -- A day in his life -- The hunt -- The art of photography -- The sword of Damocles -- Excess baggage -- Acknowledgements -- About the author.

First published between 1966 and 1980, these stories thoughtfully reveal the preoccupations of the middle-class Filipino struggling to come to terms with the changes occurring around him, over which he had little control. Their geography is a long-gone clutch of neighboring urban districts, interconnected by the wanderings of the people reduced to their primal, baser selves by a cold, dehumanizing city and economic hardship.