God lives in St. Petersburg and other stories

Presents six fictional stories about Americans colliding with a remote and often periolous part of the world. Two journalists, stranded in wartime Afghanistan, are taken in by a warlord who becomes the arbiter of their fates. A female scientist investigating the Aral Sea disaster is drawn into a trap by a former KGB officer. On a hike through Kazakhstan, Jayne and Douglas's marriage unravels when their guide, a veteran of the Soviet-Afghanistan war, takes an unseemly interest in Jayne. The son of an American ambassador addicted to the seamy underside of a Central Asian city finally gets in over his head. A tortured missionary struggles to reconcile his sexual urges with his faith. A young man just back from a long stint in Kyrgyzstan finds his relationship with his fiancée all but destroyed.