East of Aden

the long version

In the 1960s, Jess, Joan and Jackie - three starry-eyed young women - meet in Bombay when their husbands go to work in the Indian city. They are happy and excited at the prospect of living abroad, and don't believe a cynical member of the expatriate society's warning: that when European women go to live east of Aden, their lives change completely. Soon, however, all three friends discover the truth of the warning and circumstances force them to go home. They lose touch, but, forty years later, Jess seeks out her old friends from India - with some surprising results.