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The time is the early 1970's and the country is South Africa. John Matlala, a young black man aged nineteen, leaves the citrus farm where he has spent his entire life and sets out to seek his fortune in a country where the government is determined to stifle the development of its black citizens. His journey to the city of Johannesburg is fraught with the fear of arrest for contravening the racial laws of the time and the distrust of the white population that dominate his people. By the time he reaches Johannesburg he has learnt to distrust all his fellow men, although he still retains the naivety that his farm life instilled in him. John settles in the Johannesburg suburb of Hillbrow where he meets Jimson, a streetwise petty criminal who persuades him to join him in his criminal endeavours. The two men proceed to steal and trick people out of their possessions using non-violent means but eventually violence becomes a necessity. Herman Malan is a wealthy white South African who has inherited his father's engineering business, but prefers the good life and cares little for business affairs. One of Herman's responsibilities is to collect the factory worker's wages on a Friday afternoon. John and Jimson learn about Herman's routine and set out to rob him. This leads to a sequence of events that include violent death, rape in a men's hostel in the black city of Soweto, the love that develops between John and a young Sowetan girl Susan, John's flight from Soweto and a strange coincidence that ultimately threatens the lives of Herman's parents and John. Woven into the tale are the ever-present shameful and disgraceful discriminatory laws of apartheid.
