One follows the confrontation between the Philippines and China on the ground as well as on the high seas. The second delves into the legal intricacies of the case and simplifies them for us laypeople. The third introduces us to a cast of characters who, as in all good journalism, are made to personify the various issues and problems that the author deals with. (Even I have a cameo role, but the author should have made me a footnote instead of giving my flyboy antics two pages worth of valuable column inches).