Fact-based, this is the story of Mathew Duncan, son of an English baronet who is studying to become a primatologist. The story follows Matthew from his studies in Zaire and America, back to his ancestral home in Yorkshire and on to Rhodesia, where he falls deeply in love with a married woman. Unfortunately for Mathew, his personal relationships are exploited by others. He is made an unwilling pawn in the political machinations during the final days of Rhodesia in the late 1970s.