As Zimbabwe breaks free of British colonial rule, young Lindiwe Bishop encounters violence at close hand when her white neighbour is murdered, apparently committed by the woman's stepson, Ian, although he is released from prison surprisingly quickly. Intrigued, Lindiwe strikes up a friendship with the boy next door, until he departs for South Africa. Years later, Ian returns to find Lindiwe has been hiding her own secret. As their country slides towards chaos, the couple's grip on happiness becomes ever more precarious. Vividly evoking the traumatic history of a nation once brimming with promise, The Boy Next Door tells an engrossing, unpredictable story of love against the odds, and of the shadows cast by the past.