Reeling from his wife's death, cardiologist Charles Anderson is looking for meaning and purpose in his life. He volunteers to work as the doctor at a refugee camp, in a poverty-ridden Islamic country, set up to take the survivors of a devastating earthquake. But tensions rise to dangerous levels as bombs start to fall. Forced to continually re-evaluate his conceptions of what constitutes a good deed, Charles pushes himself ever further on his quest to do something morally unequivocal in a perilous and unforgiving land.

A vivid and absorbing account of the limits of benevolence, Right of Thirst offers a subtle exploration of the clash between East and West, rich and poor, and the profound conflicts that divide the world, as well as the fundamental human qualities that unite us.