It was adapted by John Hawkesworth from the 1959 book of the same title by Elspeth Huxley, and is set in and around the town of Thika in Kenya's Central Province.

Robin Grant (David Robb), his wife Tilly (Hayley Mills) and daughter Elspeth (Holly Aird) move to British East Africa (now called Kenya) to set up a coffee plantation.

They meet Piet Roos (Morgan Sheppard), a Boer big game hunter, and Njombo, a local person, who goes to work for them.

As a result, the colonial government local administrator (titled as a "chief") strips him of his property, and Sammy marries the girl Njombo wanted.

After the railway reaches Thika, Lettice gets a piano, but during a party held to celebrate its arrival, a leopard kills one of her dogs.

The filming included aerial views of the actual Kenya-Uganda railway train as it traveled between Mombasa and Nairobi heading toward Uganda.