Marie is a 40-something housekeeper leading a pretty humdrum existence in modern day Saltriver, Cape Town.
She has regular church meetings, a grown son and a husband she barely talks to.
Marie starts having excruciating back-ache and eventually loses track of parts of her day.
Katriena is a 18th century slave-girl of about 15 years, who is pregnant with her white master's baby and desperate to save her unborn child.
Johannes, a medicine man, promises to help her do this, using her link to Marie who is Katriena's only living descendent.