Hideous Kinky is set in a time about 30 years ago when it was not uncommon for young British free-thinkers to cross into the next continent with virtually nothing in their pockets. They left their proper schooling and part-time jobs behind to make their trek into a poor, desert country in Africa in search of themselves and their spirituality. And so this story begins with a young English hippie woman who has brought her two young daughters with her on her journey. Though the book is narrated by the youngest of the two daughters, it is not yet clear that this is so in the screenplay version of Hideous Kinky.
