The story is about the Leyton family, of Russian-Jewish descent, living in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the 1930s. The father, Rayfel, is a lawyer who aspires to political power. He believes the racially divided country can be saved by liberal democracy. His wife, Freda, despises Johannesburg society and longs for romantic drama in her life. Their articulate, imaginative, even visionary daughter, Josephine, is precocious in her understanding...