Four travelers on separate missions are in four separate trains that will converge at Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City: one (North Avenue Station – Cubao Station) intends to end his life; another (Santolan Station – Cubao Station) has planned to tell her estranged boyfriend that she loves him after all; another (Taft Avenue Station – Cubao Station) has decided to inform her lover that she no longer wants him; and another (Recto Station – Cubao Station), is designing to commit homicide. All four meet to confront the unexpected: metaphorically merging into one single character with four voices to complete one portrait of the modern, urban Filipino constantly torn between conflicting psyches.

This breakthrough Filipino novel in the English language employs 100% characterization and explores the lyrical powers of rhythm and voice, orchestrating not four voices but five, the fifth being that of the author and the final narrator, who happens to be a passerby-witness to the climactic merging. It offers four fantasy endings and a fifth, real, ending—plus an end piece that gives closure for the characters, the author, the reader, the country and the world.