Sophisticated city girl Annica is married to Garth, a wealthy, self-employed inventor much older than herself. When one of his many projects also fails, Annica, together with Garth and baby daughter, have to relocate 'temporarily' to a plot in rural Transvaal, near Johannesburg. Far from being the 'great place in the country' promised to her by Garth, and against the advice of decorator friend Harry, Annica finds herself having to cope with a run-down hovel with no water supply, no electricity and no phone. She is introduced to a black domestic worker, May, to help her, except May speaks no English – and Annica speaks no Afrikaans. They are terrorized by a mysterious figure who skulks around at night, and are plagued by thick forest of tenacious, neck-high weeds that have overgrown the whole yard. Then she has to cope with an invasion of bees and an army of ants that follow the honey trail and end up moving into the sugar bowl. By now Annica and May have become good friends – and Annic...