Circumstances in the area affected the cast and crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education for these villages.

They strike up a romance, and marry after she accompanies him to his posting in Kenya, where she befriends Belgian doctor Arnold Bluhm, leading to rumours of an affair.

She gives it to Justin's colleague Sandy Woodrow, the British High Commissioner, who sends it to Sir Bernard Pellegrin, head of the Africa Desk at the Foreign Office.

Sandy informs Justin that a white woman and black driver have been killed near Lake Turkana, and that Tessa and Arnold shared a room at Lodwar before hiring a car.

Justin meets with Tessa's cousin and lawyer Ham, and they access her computer files to reveal her investigation into Dypraxa and its manufacturer, pharmaceutical conglomerate KDH, which hired Three Bees to test the drug on unsuspecting Kenyans.

Justin receives a threatening note, and Ham provides him with a fake passport to travel to Germany, where he meets Tessa's contact Birgit, part of a pharmaceutical watchdog group.

Returning to Kenya, Justin confronts Sandy, who admits that Tessa's report was silenced to save KDH from spending millions redeveloping the drug.

The plot of the film is loosely based on a real-life case in Kano, Nigeria involving antibacterial testing by Pfizer on small children.

The film's title derives from Justin's gentle but diligent attention to his plants, a recurring background theme that informs his patience and persistence.

[8] On the film aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Constant Gardener has a score of 83%, based on 192 critical reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10.

[12] USA Today noted that the film's "passion, betrayal, gorgeous cinematography, social commentary, stellar performances and clever wit puts it in a special category near perfection".

However, Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice criticized the film as "a cannonballing mélange of hack-cuts, impressionistic close-ups, and tropical swelter".