Louis Botha, Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi are all to be found in the vicinity of Spion Kop during the South African War when the forces under the British Commander-in-chief, Lord Roberts, are outclassed by the Boer forces under General Louis Botha, the future prime minister of the Union of South Africa. Churchill is a war correspondent who records the slaughter, and Mohandas K (Mahatma) Gandhi is a warrant officer in the Indian Ambulance Corps, taking on a non-combative role.

British forces defeat the Boers three weeks later and the Orange Free State is annexed. Resistance by the Boers in what Britain now calls the Orange River Colony, however, is far from over.