Young men often confuse war and adventure. They are not the same. Tolbert "TM" Adams and Happy "Hap" Eyes grew up in the late 1880's on a large South Texas ranch owned by TM's father, Major Buford Adams. They were mentored by Hap's Comanche parents, a freed Zulu slave, ranch hands, and Civil war veterans, and given the best possible formal education. The young men were well prepared to take advantage of the any number of opportunities. When they decided to travel to Southern Africa to hunt elephants and engage in the ivory trade, it surprised many. In 1899 the British Empire's agenda of colonial expansion across Africa from Cape Town to Cairo is threatened by two South African republics and war looms on the horizon. Major Adams warns the two on the day of their departure, "Young men often confuse war and adventure. They are not the same. Avoid it if you can. Civil war veterans refer to their combat experiences as 'having seen the elephant'. It is the one elephant you don't want to encounter." But fate has a way of fouling the best laid plans. Falsely accused of the murder of an English officer, TM and Hap set out to prove their innocence and are dragged into a war raging across the vast South African veld. Cast into a world of lies, deceit, and blood-shed, they must use all their skills and wits to survive. They went to Africa to hunt ivory baring elephant but come face to face with the 'apocalyptic elephant' of death and destruction. As many young men must, they learn experience is an expensive commodity.