[citation needed] The frame story of Nada the Lily introduces an unnamed "White Man" travelling through Natal "during the winter before the Zulu War."

The story ends tragically when Nada, fleeing Dingaan's attack on Umslopogaas' kraal, takes refuge in a cave on the mountain.

'Mopo' is based in part on a man called Mbopa who was involved in the assassination of Shaka; however Umslopogaas, Galazi and Nada are wholly invented characters.

The real-life Zulu kings Shaka and Dingane are major characters and the book is set around the time of real events such as the assassination of Shaka, the Weenen Massacre (the subject of Haggard's later novel Marie), the Battle of Italeni, the Battle of Blood River and the coming to power of Mpande kaSenzangakhona (Panda), the third king of the Zulus.

[1] John Scarborough included Nada on a list of what he regarded as Haggard's best novels, along with King Solomon's Mines, She: A History of Adventure, Cleopatra, Red Eve, and Eric Brighteyes.

[4] The Lesotho writer Thomas Mofolo was influenced by Nada the Lily when writing his own novel of Zulu life, Chaka (1925).