Pat Brading had gone out to West Africa partly to be with her father and partly to avoid the situation which was developing between her and her old friend Stephen Holman. She felt it was not fair to Steve's fiancee - and anyway, the prospect of Africa had always fascinated her. It turned out to be everything Pat had always dreamed it would - so much so that, when Steve followed her out there, announcing that his engagement was off and begging her to marry him and return to England, Pat refused. But what was she really clinging to - Africa, or the teak-hard rubber planter Nick Farland, who had always treated her as a kid sister but never as a woman?