This book is somewhat random and difficult to make sense of, by design. The story begins on the Thames river on its way to London. There is an ape aboard the vessel who sits wrapped in a blanket with its eyes closed. The captain of the boat is a person who is going by Bally these days, but the implication is that he changes his name often. The man is a smuggler. During their journey, the captain loses control of his vessel.
In the chaos on the boat, the ape is released from its cage. It begins to haunt the vessel. The ensuing hijinks are quirky and often ridiculous, as the captain and the ape go back and forth trying to defeat each other. We meet another passenger on the boat, Madelene Burden, a woman from Denmark who has been sweet-talked into moving to London with Adam, another passenger who works as a zoologist.
One day Adam finds a way to confront the ape. He learns that the ape can speak. It has named itself Erasmus, and it is a beautiful poet and theologian. The ape is also incredibly lithe and coordinated.
In London, Adam and Madelene settle into a routine, but before long, Madelene's cabin fever turns into full-blown anxiety and alcoholism. She decides to get into some trouble, and she wants to hook up with the ape, Erasmus. She goes undercover at a Meat Marketing advertisement firm and learns that the ape is more unique than she was led to believe—Erasmus is the product of DNA testing.
Erasmus and Madelene escape together and live with each other in a state of paradise. Without humans, Madelene thrives. She is glad to feel more natural, more like an ape than a person, and the two get along nicely.
