'Stick with your own kind', says Mother, 'people like us. East is East ... '

Behind high walls, in the big white house with the manicured garden, live the affluent Carter family. Max major, his wife, Abby, and their three children, Max minor, Tom and Charlotte (Lottie). Shielded by the privet hedge ('we don't want Africa on our doorstep' says Max major) are the servants' quarters where Wellington and Gloria live. Next door, in a faded little bungalow, live the Peters family - Selwyn, Nellie, Cheslin and Oupa.

Abby arranges flowers and hosts tennis mornings and bridge parties for her friends, Juju, Moo, Clicky and Barb (whose homes and gardens are tended by 'house girls' and 'garden boys'), all the while agonising about their hypocrisy, her husband's increasing arrogance and entitlement, Tom's sensitivity and Lottie's friendship with 'the coloured boy'.

'Nip it in the bud', says Mother, 'before she gets herself in trouble. East is East.'

And then something unimaginable occurs, changing their lives forever.