Game guide Alexandra Carnell-Ellis is principled, doesn’t suffer fools, and is generally not too fond of ordinary people either. When she’s fired from The Plains, a commercial ‘Ferrari Safari’-type game reserve in the Karoo for being rude to guests, she’s determined to make a fresh start.

She lands a dream job at an exclusive game reserve in Mpumalanga, but Alex’s new beginning appears to be doomed from the start as she arrives at the lodge with attitude, a few facts about her that aren’t strictly true, and a stolen dog in tow. For one, she had pretended to be a man in her application, because she is convinced that khaki fever gives male guides an advantage.

Alex struggles to control her unruly tongue and almost immediately makes enemies with the camp manager and the owner’s terrifyingly scary girlfriend, who can’t wait to expose Alex’s deepest darkest secrets. She finds love in the form of the level-headed and attractive head guide, but it’s not long before everything goes wrong.

After impulsively abandoning her vehicle and guests to rescue an abandoned baby baboon, a storm breaks over her head and she flees the reserve. Will she ever be able to find her way back?