During the trouble times in Ireland, Tom Sutton, a wanted man, loses his wife in a raid and belives his son suffered the same fate. He is forced to escape, and finds himself on the vast continent of Africa, sinking into the shame and degradation of alcohol. A little gurl brings him back from a living death and together with her and his only friend from the trouble times, they travel north, through the small working gold mines of Southern Rhodesia to The Smoke That Thunders (Victoria Falls), finally settling in Northern Rhodesia. He attempts to build a new life with the help of a devoted African servant and friend, trying to forget the past. His son, whom he thought had died, was adopted by the Major who seeked to destroy Sutton during the trouble times; he re-enters the story in search of revenge on the father who deserted him. The story relates the complicated position between Heide, the child, fast reaching womanhood; Maria, the woman who shared Sutton's bed; and the memory of Grace and what she would have thought of him. Then there is Bradley, who, in a desperate bid to hid his own foul secret, commits destruction and murder in an attempt to move Sutton off his land, and John, his son, who would do or try anything if it could hurt his father. Could he even watch his father being mauled by a savage wounded lion? Weasal Byrn, the likeable little man, his friend at the start and at the end of a long and moving journey, and Simalala, the trusted servant, who would give his life for Sutton and gavit it for his son in a most bloody and gruelling way as can only be part of Africa in the raw. This is Tom Sutton's story, often funny, often sad, but filled with excitement as big as Africa and only The Smoke That Thunders determines the explosive climax of their hatred, passion and future.