To turn earth into heaven is a tall order, but no matter where they live on this planet, the people in these stories hold out hope that at least a small portion of heaven might brighten their patch of earth. A doctor and his relatives are at loggerheads over whether England will be more of a paradise if a splash of Pakistan is added. A Tamil doctor who flees his homeland torn by civil war struggles to make a new life in the American Midwest. A New Zealander visiting India strikes up an unlikely friendship with a little boy facing hard times. An American mother struggles to live without her son following the Iraq War. A Sri Lankan aboriginal finds (and then loses) her paradise when confronted with visiting researchers several years apart. These vivid characters and more demonstrate what connects us all, no matter where we're from or where we find ourselves.