After losing her husband, Julia Wells has tried to move on with her life in her small New Zealand town. She teaches at the local school while single-handedly raising her son and trying to make ends meet. But when Dieter Gerts, a strange man from South Africa, rents an apartment from her, she has no idea how her life is about to change.
Dieter says he is an engineer, but he has yet to find a job. What's more, his new roommate, Al, is known in the community to be into drugs. She's had complaints from other tenants in the building about them, and she finally decides to give Al an eviction notice-but that doesn't take care of the problem. When Julia threatens them with police force, the two finally leave, though the apartment is in shambles
A ring left behind by Dieter offers a clue as to who this mysterious man might be. Julia gives it to Peter Johnson, a local detective. When Al's body shows up in a mine tunnel, however, things take a terrible turn. Soon, Julia and Peter find themselves thrown into a complex plot involving Dieter, the local goldmine, the New Zealand government, and neo-Nazis. Will they be able to stop Dieter before he can put his plan into action?
