In 1986, Peggy and Dave Walker and their two children, newly recruited aid-workers for a relief and development organisation based in Southern Sudan, arrive from Australia to work at SudanAID's headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The organisation is struggling to survive as the Sudanese civil war accelerates and the rebels gain more territory forcing vital projects to be abandoned. The Sudanese government threatens to expel SudanAID from the country accusing them of collaborating with the rebel army. Against this backdrop, Peggy relates the heartwarming, the horrific and the humorous stories of the every day dramas in the lives of her family and co-workers, both expatriate and national. As her understanding of living in the African culture grows, Peggy learns the values of tolerance and acceptance and finds the inner strength to deal with two critical events that subsequently bring SudanAID to its knees.