A Poet, an explorer and an expert on a very particular kind of duck, George Devis has been visiting Ethopia to spend time with his sister and her Country and Western singer boyfriend, where they work on an aid project. He sets off with their two sons to return to England as pirates attack the settlement and the couple suffer a gruesome death. Determined to uncover what really happened, he befriends a Boston journalist on the trail of the criminals. First off, a gruelling transatlantic slog to publicise the cause - during the long journey shots are fired at their boat and the journalist dies. George finds himself enmeshed in a deadly international conspiracy.