The murder of the young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near northern Kenya's Lake Turkana. Her putative African lover and traveling companion, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tragedy elevates Justin Quayle, amateur gardener and ineffectual career diplomat, seemingly oblivious to his wive's cause, when he wakes to his own resources and the extraordnary courage of the woman he barely had time to love.