Tinashe is a young Shona boy living in a small village in rural Zimbabwe. The guerilla war of the late 1960s only infrequently affects his quiet life: school, swimming in the river, playing with the other kids on the kopje. When his younger sister, Hazvinei, is born, Tinashe kws at once that there is something special about her. Tinashe is prepared to follow his sister anywhere, but how can he keep her safe when the forces threatening her are so much darker and more sinister than he suspected?