Soldier Blue

Stockholm in the 1920s. Young Roland lives with his socialist father, Jewish mother and a boxing brother. His mother sells condoms illegally, and from them, Roland makes slingshots which he sells. His rebellious ways has gotten him the special attention of his school teacher, who always makes sure that Roland is punished. Roland also tries to make extra money by repairing bicycles, a successful business that in the end lands him in hot water.

In the wake of Jamaican emancipation, French colonist Annette Cosway falls into poverty and marries racist Englishman Paul Mason. But when Annette's young son dies in a fire started by former slaves, Mason flees to England, leaving his grief-stricken wife and her Creole daughter Antoinette behind. Soon Antoinette learns she must marry to claim her inheritance and sets her sights on Rochester, an Englishman eerily similar to Mason.

Packard Schmidt is a burnt-out, middle-aged college English professor. In a desperate attempt to restore some sense of vitality to his lonely existence he embarks on a series of impulsive romantic exploits resulting in a cavalcade of disaster both personally and professionally. These disasters change and educate Pack and serve eventually as a meditation on the meaning and power of desire, loss, and love.

Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.

Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.