Childhood friends, Edward and Marie, have moved to a village in Africa while Edward is setting up a museum there with money from the West. Within weeks it becomes apparent that they have moved to an area devastated by AIDS. Questions about their own personal and political responsibilities become impossible to ignore and as Edward becomes increasingly anxious to leave, Marie makes the unexpected decision to stay there without him. When news of Edward's imminent departure reaches Anthony, the African contractor for the gallery, he goes to beg Edward, for the last time, to help him escape to America, forcing the couple into a final analysis of what their experience in Africa means to them, and what they mean to each other.