Mark David visits a nursing home in search of a place for his elderly mother. There, he encounters the formidable Elizabeth Ryder, mother of his best friend, who he hasn't seen in forty years. The meeting catapults Mark back to his student days in the late 1960s: to Adelaide during the Vietnam War, when conscription was on everyone's minds and young people took to the streets in protest. Conscientious objectors -- Australia -- Fiction. | Reminiscing -- Fiction. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- Australia -- Fiction. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Participation, Australian -- Fiction. | Australian fiction. | Nineteen sixties -- Fiction. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Australia -- Fiction. | Draft -- Australia -- Fiction. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Conscientious objectors -- Fiction. | Adelaide (S.A.) -- Politics and government -- Fiction. | Australian