In German East Africa on the Eve of the First World War two adventurers – one a flamboyant Irish-American, the other an impeccable young Englishman – pit their wits against the gross German commissioner from whose territory they make their living as game hunters and ivory poachers. The outbreak of the war gives the signal for their private skirmishing to flare into a violent vendetta, pursued on land and sea so that what begins as a comic escapade gives way to a chilling horror.