Trevor Chaplin teaches woodwork and likes to listen to jazz. Jill Chapman teaches English and wants to help save the planet. They live together and just want a quiet life, they also have a child. They are asked by their friend "Big Al" to put up a friend of his and, of course, they agree. But when Ivan arrives, they find he speaks no English but thinks that "Bix is cool". Meetings with criminals, smuggling people over the border, fighting for the right to education even when it's against the rules.