From the very moment she arrives on site as the new geologist on the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme, Robyn feels it has been a mistake. Separated from her partner Terence, she struggles to overcome prejudice and adapt to a life tuned to the demanding rhythms of working on the tunnel under tremendous time pressure. After a year surviving derailments, cave-ins and flooding, she leaves the tunnel project to work on various assignments that take her to vastly different locations in South Africa and Namibia. Always in the background is Terence, who is more of a friend than a lover, and Robyn's beloved dog; in the foreground is her passion for her work and a job well done and her interaction with the locals in all the places where her job takes her.