Justin Quayle, a low-level British diplomat and horticultural hobbyist posted in Kenya, learns that his wife Tessa was found dead in the veld. Tessa has been murdered at a crossroads along with her Kenyan driver. Her colleague, Dr. Arnold Bluhm, initially suspected of her murder, is then found to have been murdered on the same day as Tessa. Various rumours abound that the two were having an affair; it is later revealed that Bluhm was gay.