Set in an unspecified but eerily familiar landscape, Guilty is told from the point of view of a young man named Mark. The novel begins in his childhood as his father returns from war. In spite of being garlanded as a hero, Mark's father declares himself a pacifist and is immediately reviled in a country still suffering from wartime divisions. When he is forced into exile Mark meets Mr Spector, a mysterious figure who becomes a dominant force in his life, overseeing his schooling, his employment and even his accommodation. When he tries to break away from Mr Spector to pursue an engagement with the beautiful Carla, Mark's life begins to unravel. Thwarted at every turn by a Kafkaesque bureaucracy, he falls prey to the machinations and insecurities of his guilt-ridden mind.