The book details the life of West Indians in post-World War II London. In the hopeful aftermath of war they flocked to the Mother Country, West Indians in search of a prosperous future in the "glitter-city". Instead, they have to face the harsh realities of living hand to mouth, of racism, of bone-chilling weather and bleak prospects. Covering a period of roughly three years, The Lonely Londoners has no plot in the usual sense of the term. Rather, the novel follows a limited number of characters of the "Windrush generation" through their daily lives in the capital. The various threads of action form a whole through the unifying central character of Trinidadian Moses Aloetta, a veteran émigré who, after more than ten years in London, has still not achieved anything of note and whose homesickness increases as he gets older. Every Sunday morning "the boys", many a recent arrival among them, come together in his rented room to trade stories and inquire after those whom they have not seen for a while. Not surprisingly, their lives mainly consist of work (or looking for a job) and various petty pleasures. Yet friendships flourish among these Lonely Londoners and, in time, they learn to survive.