Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful is set in the 1950s, the time of the Passive Resistance campaign, the Sophiatown removals, the emergence of the South African Liberal Party and the early stages of the Nationalist government in power. Revolving around the everyday experiences of a group of men and women, whose lives reflect the human costs of maintaining a racially divided society, Alan Paton, in a series of vivid and compelling episodes, examines what happens between people when such political events overtake their lives.