Kwame Johnson, an African-American academic serving a stint as a cultural diplomat, is sent to visit a remote Congo post where an officer is establishing an American cultural center. But the officer has disappeared. Kwame tries to discover what happened, but in vain. He's instructed to set up the center himself.Kwame finds companions among the expats living at his hotel. He expects to marry his white fiancée in Paris within several months. But the languor of the town under-cuts his plan. While attempting to find out about his fellow officer, he befriends Kalima, the beautiful Congolese wife of an expat who has deserted her. She lives with a Nigerian doctor resident at the hotel. She and Kwame begin an affair. The doctor takes this in stride. He and Kwame arrange to share her favors.Danger always lurks in the Congo and one danger for Kwame is falling in love with her. An even greater danger is the unrest from neighboring Rwanda where mas-sacres spreads toward Kwame's town, forcing Kwame and Kalima to become exiles who must dis-cover how to flee the Congo and find refuge elsewhere.

FREDERICK HUNTER'S first encounter with Africa came as a Foreign Service Officer of the United States Information Service assigned to the Congo. He served there in three posts: Coquilhatville, Bukavu, and Leopoldville and served as the Africa Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor and subsequently written award-winning stage work which have been produced by PBS, ABC and CBS.