A group of characters of mixed nationalities is situated in an Italian villa in the last stages of WWII. Each of them is lost on an unknown territory, away from their loved ones and asking themselves many questions in search of their identity after being crippled by the war. Gradually, through storytelling, they let their guards down and find comfort in the presence of others. The author Michael Ondaatje, an immigrant himself, portrays Canadian multiculturalism when he lets the characters discard their national identities and choose to form their own, based on their personalities and relationships with others. Hana, a Canadian nurse, stays behind her troop to take care of a patient that is burned beyond recognition. In him, she sees all the men she was not able to save, including her father and decides to reduce his suffering on his deathbed. The patient is merely known as 'the English Patient' due to his English manner and accent. Although it seems that he has lost his memory, flashbacks that he experiences give us fragments of his life story. Canadian thief Caravaggio blames the English patient for losing his thumbs in war which were part of his identity and wishes to have his revenge. The character that shows real coloniser-colonised relationships is Kip, a Sikh sapper working for the British army dismantling bombs. He is estranged from his Indian family but not completely accepted into British society. He is an 'in-between' character of special interest for Ondaatje, who uses his reactions to further explore major postcolonial themes – those of nationalism and identity.