Simon is content to lead the life of a carefree expat in present-day Madagascar, leading groups of tourists on thrilling expeditions. Easy to forget that he has two adult children from whom he is estranged - until a letter from his daughter tells him that his son is no longer in France. Guillaume had, unbeknownst to his father, been living in the Madagascan capital for the past year, and now he has disappeared. Worse, he has gone missing with a great deal of money that belonged to a drug lord. Simon sets out in his fragile vintage VW Beetle to find his son and pay off whoever might be threatening him. As a father struggles across the poverty-stricken heart of Madagascar, facing breakdowns, roadside gangs, flooded rivers, malarial mosquitos, the spectre of his dead wife, and a nun in need of much more than a lift, he begins to accept that his journey towards a potentially deadly confrontation will be more arduous than he bargained for.