Two boys, an orphaned Victorian pickpocket and a Zulu, grow up in very different societies. One inhabits the slums of London, making a living as a pickpocket, the other lives in the wide-open spaces of Zululand caring for his father's cattle herd. The pickpocket from the East End becomes a boy soldier rather than go to prison, the Zulu dreams of nothing else but to become a warrior serving his King and eventually their respective armies clash. They have different stories to tell and yet in the final analysis they are not so different from one another, both have friends that support them and both have surprising and intriguing female relatives.