In Julian de Wette’s novel, it is the 1960s in South Africa and the new prime minister has his head full of plans. He consults a powerful witchdoctor, but once he begins his scheme for cutting up the land he loses the sangoma’s protection. In the meantime the family butler has himself reclassified so he can marry the Coloured nanny. But his plans go awry and his desperate struggle with bureaucracy sets off a bizarre chain of events that end in a shocking murder. Witnessed by the precocious grandson of the gardener at the family estate, colourful characters act out a drama on the stage of history, oblivious to the horror with which posterity may view them.