Swallow is a Dutch girl raised in South Africa among the Kaffirs. Lonely, she gazes from shore over the waves of a storm-tossed sea, and dreams of a brother entering her life . . . and soon finds herself face-to-face with a shipwrecked waif cast ashore by the storm.

Swallow grows to love the English boy Ralph Kenzie. He returns her love -- but must face the murderous Swart Piet, who is intent on taking Swallow for himself -- and equally set on bringing war to the region. Torn from Ralph's side, Swallow faces adventures of her own alongside Sihamba, the Kaffir witch-doctoress.