A detective agency gives a complex smuggling case to the seemingly absent-minded PI Boetie Flenters - never thinking he will solve it. Monica Terblanche (alias Hester Smith) is blackmailed to smuggle diamonds by Da Silva (aka Hennie Gous) and his accomplice. In return, she will receive the negative of an incriminating photo of her father. The investigation takes Boetie to the village of Geenfontein. When he bungles things he is fired and takes jobs as a bus conductor, hospital porter, lifeguard, lounge singer and plumber. Then he meets Hester, who explains her predicament, and they decide to work together.

In the Transvaal, in 1900, the British army condemns to death an American mining engineer for aiding and abetting the Boer enemy. The engineer escapes from custody and takes refuge at an isolated Boer farm. When three deserters from the British army arrive on the scene, the engineer takes steps to protect himself and the Boer family.