At the center of this novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. A second marriage to Clara Bowden quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life. Samad's late-in-life arranged marriage produces twins whose separate paths confound Iqbal's every effort to direct them. Set against London's racial and cultural tapestry, White Teeth revels in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, confounding expectations, and embracing the comedy of daily existence.