It is 1996. Manu, a 19-year-old cowherd living on the slopes of Congo's fiercest volcano, must flee from a complex war. Taken to Uganda by a hard-drinking Texan, he is offered a chance to join an anarchic group of mercenary pilots or 'freight dogs'. Soon Manu is seeing his vast country from above and falling in love with flying - but trouble follows closely behind, no matter how fast he flies.
When the past erupts back into this life, Manu is forced to leave behind the African sky for the chilly embrace of northern Europe. Will Manu be able to reinvent himself again? Can he set down the freight which has weighed on his life for so long? And is Belgian volcanologist Anke Desseaux the answer to his problems or simply another one of them?