 It is set on an imaginary island called Nepenthe, located off the coast of Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea, a thinly fictionalized description of Capri's residents and visitors.The narrative concerns twelve days during which Thomas Heard, a bishop returning to England from his diocese in Africa, yields his moral vigour to various influences.Philosophical hedonism pervades much of Douglas' writing, and the novel's discussion of moral and sexual issues caused considerable debate.