Leo Painter is the CEO of Earth Global, a large energy, mining, and real-estate development firm. At the behest of the State Department, he and a party of company executives travel to Botswana, a country rich in extractable resources that Leo-and the U.S. government-would love to access. Traveling with him are his stepson and his wife, a woman with a past and a predilection for trouble. Sekoa is a male lion who shares with many of his bipedal enemies a form of HIV/AIDs. Weakened by the disease, he loses his place as the alpha male in his pride and now, dying and harassed by a pack of hyenas, seeks only a place to rest in peace. Like the lion, Painter is pursued by corporate "hyenas," and is searching for a place where he too can find some rest and build his dream: a resort and casino on Botswana's Chobe River. While a maneater stalks the savannah, greed and overarching ambition lead these players on a collision course as local police, a plucky female game ranger, and other authorities, hoteliers, and tribesmen vie over the spoils.