Uys himself plays Anton De Vries, a concert pianist whose 8-year-old son Dirkie is the central character.

Eight-year-old Dirkie DeVries (Wynand Uys, credited as Dirkie Hayes), is flying with his Uncle Pete (Pieter Hauptfleisch) and his dog a Cairn Terrier, across the Kalahari Desert in a small plane, piloted by Uncle Pete, who partway into the flight has a heart attack and partially loses control of the plane.

Thanks to his struggles to land safely in the desert even while suffering the heart attack, the crash is not as serious as it might have been otherwise, and, while Pete himself dies, Dirkie and his small pet dog survive, and the bulk of the story follows Dirkie's various adventures while he struggles to survive the harsh desert conditions, including an encounter with Kalahari Desert Bushmen, who give him help, but abandon him after an unfortunate misunderstanding concerning Dirkie's dog.

The story alternates between Dirkie in the desert and Dirkie's father Anton DeVries (played by the director Jamie Uys) and follows his increasingly desperate efforts to locate his son, including having two million leaflets specially printed and spread over the desert from a plane, containing instructions for Dirkie on how to survive in the desert, and assuring him that his father loves him and won't give up trying to rescue him.

There is a striking and emotionally intense scene in which Dirkie's father is practising the Polonaise at home and his worry about Dirkie causes him to have a sudden emotional breakdown, in which he interrupts his playing by hitting the piano's keyboard angrily with his fists and producing loud crashing discords.

In addition, the very opening scene of the actual story (after the differing introductions to the two versions of the film) shows Dirkie and his father playing Chopsticks together on the piano as a duet.

The Australian jazz singer Edwin Duff (1928–2012) is credited in the end titles as singing the theme song "Wait for Tomorrow".

He and his wife Marie-Tinka ran the Otters Den nature reserve and outdoor activity centre near Hoedspruit, South Africa[8] where he is also the chair of the local flying club.

[9][10][11] Director Jamie Uys became best known outside South Africa for making the first two films in The Gods Must Be Crazy series.

The UK channel Talking Pictures TV screens the film several times a year.

For example, the Afrikaans version starts with a scene showing Dirkie's father Anton Hayes, who is a concert pianist, playing Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op.

A hugely popular remake was made in Telugu, a South Indian language, in 1972, with the name Papam Pasivadu[12] with a few minor changes in the storyline to suit the local audience.