On an early October morning in 1953, Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Cooper is sent to the mountains to investigate a death. Detective Constable Shabalala accompanies him as a translator and tracker. Amahle, the 17-year-old daughter of a Zulu chief, lies on a slope of the Drakensberg as if laid out for viewing. Someone has scattered wildflowers over the girl and protected her body from predators for at least one night. Yet neither the grieving Zulus at the scene nor any of the white farmers in the valley are willing to provide the investigators with clues about the background of the incident. A social divide runs deep through the population of the mountainous region. A centuries-old enmity separates the Dutch-descended Afrikaners from the wealthier British-descended settlers, who despise the Boers. The local Zulu clans also watch each other warily.