Saul Barnard has grown up in Knysna, the son of a wood cutter and descendent of the first Dutch colonists in South Africa to make the forest their home and livelihood. But as he comes of age, Saul begins to question the life to which he is born and is turned out when he defies his father. The story follows Saul from his past to the present day when he is back in the forest and tracking an elephant with which he has a mystical connection.