Born in a woodland pond and raised in a hippie commune, Curly Oswald is the ultimate outsider, unhindered by conventional schooling or any administrative ties with the wicked `System'. Now, confined to a hospital bed, he tells the story of his younger self and his extended family of drop-outs and dreamers, as they grapple with problems ranging from eco-friendly slug-control to the mischief of a power-hungry guru. It is an extraordinary chronicle of a lifestyle both alternative yet strangely viable, a microcosm of eccentricity, comedy and grotesque tragedy, told with the unflinching eye of a child and the sympathy of a narrator who sees the underlying humour of life in all its deranged glory.