The novel follows Thomas Landman, an Afrikaner who becomes increasingly radicalised by an unnamed anti-apartheid resistance movement, loosely based on the African National Congress. Landman becomes involved in a conspiracy to assassinate the state president of South Africa, but he and his co-conspirators bungle the attempt and are forced underground. The novel follows Landman's increasingly harrowing experiences as a fugitive, and his subsequent escape to Botswana.