Catherine and her husband Roberto, a game hunter, live in East Africa. She dislikes hunting, but the safaris Roberto organizes for his wealthy clients allow them to live in affluence. One day Roberts gets seriously injured by a leopard in a hunting accident. Pilot Gordon Coburn takes him to the nearest hospital. Catherine is fascinated by the silent and adventurous man. The two of them cannot resist the magical attraction they feel for each other. Catherine splits up with Roberto and starts a new life with Gordon. While Catherine is giving birth to her daughter, Gordon becomes involved in a terrible accident: On his flight to a Massai settlement, the headlights of his Cessna break down. Gordon is forced to follow another aircraft in order to touch down. But the children that run behind the first plane on the runway get caught by Gordon's Cessna. Four of them die. Gordon keeps the accident secret, but the experience awakens the dark side of his soul. He is no more the man Catherine once loved: He drinks, becomes violent and beats his wife for the first time. Catherine desperately tries to understand what may have caused this profound change in her husband's personality. Jonathan Makuyo, a Massai and lawyer at Arusha, tells her about the accident. When Catherine discusses the events with Gordon, their lives seem to return to normal. But once again the evil within Gordon breaks through: He is now a heavy drinker, his violence becomes unbearable and he frequently beats Catherine. One night, when he is about to rape his wife, he suddenly takes his gun and shoots himself. The police investigations confirm Gordon's suicide. His family however refuses to accept that their son took his life. They hire a private investigator whose investigations are to support the family's suspicions. And a matching testimony from one of the farm guards is all too easily provided. When Catherine is put into prison, a death sentence seems almost certain. In this desperate situation Roberto stands by Catherine's side. She wants to be defended by Jonathan Makuyo, the Massai lawyer she got to know after the accident on the runway. In court the Coburn family by all means accuse their daughter-in-law of having murdered their son. But Makuyo fights for his client's life.