For years, it has been what is called a 'deteriorating situation'. Now all over South Africa, armed militants have turned the nation's cities into battlegrounds. The members of the Smales family, a liberal white couple and three young children, are rescued from the terror by their servant, July, who leads them to refuge in his native village. What happens to the Smaleses and to July whilst living as equals in the same impoverished community - the shifts in character and relationships - gives us an unforgettable look into the terrifying, tacit understandings and misunderstandings between blacks and whites in a divided South Africa.