This is the story of a young South African woman's attempt to save her father's vineyard after his apparent suicide. Sonia Bedford and her mother Hilary Bedford are joint beneficiaries of Guy Bedford's vineyard, Riverside after Hilary and her lover and manager of the vineyard, Jonas Dalton, murder Guy and make it appear to be suicide. Sonia hires a private detective and previously a grape and wine farmer, Warren Curtis, to investigate her father's death. Sonia cancels her arrangement with Warren after he inadvertently betrays her confidence but he continues to investigate Guy's death. Hilary sells her share of the vineyard to Sonia and she and Jonas move to Cape Town and Sonia struggles to keep the vineyard running. Sonia seems likely to lose the vineyard but refuses to hire Warren as the vineyard manager despite the debilitating disruptions caused by two thugs hired by Luke Gleeson, the wealthy United States banker who arranged a loan for her to purchase Hilary's share of the vineyard. Warren discovers evidence that Guy was murdered by Jonas but cannot use this evidence as it was obtained illegally. Both Sonia and Warren need to make important decisions to reach a successful conclusion.