As a child in Cape Town, Ali Sokhela (Forest Whitaker) witnessed the murder of his father and rape of his mother Josephina by marauders. On that day, Ali was also rendered a eunuch after a dog savaged his genitals. In present day, Ali had become a homicide detective of the South African Police Service, partnered with fellow detectives Brian Epkeen (Orlando Bloom) and Dan Fletcher (Conrad Kemp). The men are called to investigate the murder of Judith Botha, a young woman found in the local Botanical Gardens, only to uncover that Judith was alive and her best friend Nicole Weiss was the victim, having been bludgeoned to death. While interviewed, Judith claimed that Nicole had spent the evening with her boyfriend. While driving home, Ali encounters two young boys violently fighting, but they both flee after he defuses the fight, but found a powdered substance at the scene; he later uncovers the substance was a new form of toke, a psychologically manipulating drug. Meanwhile, Brian was revealed to be indulged in a divorce from his ex-wife Ruby, while his teenage son David had grown distant from him, due to Brian's bachelor lifestyle, heavy debt and addiction to gambling and alcohol.