Tom Harley, retired professor and historian of Central Asia, Tibet and China, succumbs to a late-afternoon dream but his dream is hijacked by 'ghost-writers', two visitors from the other side, not of life itself, but of his own mind. In order to distract Tom from his usual regrets and obsessions, the visitors construct a 'play for voices', excerpts from Tom's collection of travels in 'Tartary', but they are unable to decide on a final meaning for the play until inspired by a combination of a fourth-century Chinese calligraphy and Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood. Ultimately they leave a message for Tom from the realm of poetry and wine, but will he find it?