The hero of the book, Godknows (an unusual but fairly common name in Zimbabwe) Kuzvida, is a young black African in Southern Rhodesia (Rhodesia since 1965). Like many other young blacks, he finds that his educational prospects after 'ordinary' levels are bleak. By chance, he gets the opportunity to go to the United Kingdom to further his education fully expecting to come back to a still racially segregated Rhodesia and get himself a job. This starts him on an adventure of discovery as he, for the first time, realises that the rest of the world is different from what he had always considered "normal." While he is away, independence comes to Zimbabwe, and he returns home to a country totally different from the one he left. His vision for Zimbabwe is based on his experiences in the United kingdom. He wants to see Zimbabwe become like the United Kingdom socially, economically and politically. After joining the Zimbabwean civil service he realises quite quickly that not everyone shares this vision; that not everyone has the same work ethic or indeed the same ethics as he does. Unwittingly, he finds himself drawn into the get-rich-quick mentality that everyone seems to have and soon becomes quite wealthy by means that are opposed to everything he has always believed in. Unfortunately, when things go wrong, it is him that ends up in prison while those who got him involved are home free. Too late he realises that he has been used by many around him, including those he thought were closest to him.