Mrs. Curren, a retired classics professor dying of cancer in her native Cape Town, writes an extended letter to her daughter in America. She recounts a series of extraordinary events beginning with the discovery of Mr. Vercueil, a homeless man, sleeping beside her garage. The worsening social upheaval and deadly violence of a morally corrupt political order drives Mrs. Curren to contemplate a final shocking act of protest and outrage. She entrusts Vercueil with her letter and her legacy. But is this homeless man who he seems? And is truth more illuminating, or destructive, than fire?