Desert Rose

The story begins on the day that Eben refuses to go fishing with his benefactor, Van As. Eben's rejection breaks the shackles of a decade long agreement between Van As and the Greyling family. But the debt will not disappear. Someone will have to pay. Van As searches for Freddy, beats up his daughter, Ishara, and steals her cat. Meanwhile, Jana and Piet set in motion a plan to "scare" Van As, but it goes awry and they end up kidnapping his wife, Suzanne, instead. Rosie realizes she needs to find Freddy in order to resolve the Van As situation. But she is distracted by a marriage proposal from Mack, and the revelation that her daughter, Lucy, has a major crush on her netball teacher. Rosie gets a lead on Freddy's whereabouts and leaves to go and find him. On the road to Port Nolloth Rosie dies in a car accident and her loss is the catalyst that forces the Greyling siblings to return to the family home and face their past.

Lucy wakes the next morning to discover that Rosie has not come home. Captain Williams arrives at the farmhouse to break the news of the car accident. Gus prepares to resign from his job because of what Rosie has on him but he is let off the hook when news of Rosie's death filters through the school. Gus gives Lucy a lift home from school and she kisses him. Later, Patti is suspicious when she finds ice cream on her husband's collar. Ishara returns to the family home to find her siblings making plans after Rosie's loss. Jana partners with Thorne, a scam artist, to sell the farmhouse and escape. Meanwhile, Van As sends a thug called Bertus to force Freddy out of hiding. Bertus arrives at the house to kidnap Lucy but he is confronted by Ishara and a bloody Nama spear.

The family bury Bertus in a quiver tree forest, hide his car and burn his belongings. Thorne invites them to breakfast so he can announce an offer on the house. Ishara and Eben contest this decision and Thorne insults Eben and refuses to pay for the meal. Lucy persuades Gus to cover the bill, and this opens up Patti's awareness of their "relationship." Ishara tries to find her father and discovers a link to a woman he was once with called Ella. This takes Ishara into the traditional Nama world to track her down. Van As sends Hugo to find out what happened to Bertus and he ends up in a violent showdown with Eben in his trailer.