In 1930s South Africa, seven-year-old “P. K.” goes to boarding school after his mother becomes too frail to care for him. The school is run by Afrikaners, white Africans of European descent, and P. K., the only English student, faces harsh prejudice from the other boys. When P. K.’s mother dies, he takes leave to attend the funeral. While at home, he tells his nanny about the boys who bully him. She enlists the help of a medicine man, and P. K. returns to school with a guardian chicken. For a short while, P. K. finds comfort in the pet bird. However, when World War II breaks out in Europe, the students’ cruelty toward P. K. intensifies. School administrators decide to send the boy to live with his grandfather in Barberton. The elderly man is unenthusiastic about raising a young child, and asks his friend “Doc” to spend time with P. K. Doc, a German living in exile in Africa, teaches the boy about classical music and African flora and fauna. The two become fast friends. One afternoon, soldiers arrive and inform Doc that he must spend the duration of the war in the local prison for black African criminals. Prison authorities view Doc as a model of German culture, however, and allow him to bring his piano, as well as several plants. P. K. visits his mentor every day, tending to the garden and taking piano lessons. When he confesses that he still gets beaten up at school, Doc introduces the boy to Geel Piet, an African inmate with impressive boxing skills. Piet coaches P. K. for several years, transforming him from a timid little boy into a twelve-year-old boxing champion. The black prisoners nickname P. K. the “Rainmaker.” Piet explains that the Rainmaker is a mythical figure who will someday resolve all cultural conflict in South Africa. P. K. is wary about being perceived as a false god, but Piet dismisses the concern. Sgt. Bormann, a prison guard, notices Piet fraternizing with P. K., and humiliates the African in front of the other prisoners. After the incident, Piet attempts to keep a low profile. However, when Doc is asked to organize a music concert for the prison commissioner’s annual visit, Piet suggests the prisoners sing a song, demonstrating unity. The guards are suspicious of the musical activities, but considers P. K.’s rehearsals with the inmates to be harmless. On the night of the commissioner’s visit, P. K. worries about Piet, who is nowhere to be seen. As the boy leads the prisoners in song, he notices a smug Sgt. Bormann standing in the distance. P. K. runs off stage and finds Piet behind a building, badly beaten. The African dies in P. K.’s arms. Sometime later, the war ends, and Doc returns to Germany. In 1948, eighteen-year-old P. K. attends private school in Johannesburg, where he is respected for his intelligence, as well as his boxing prowess. He falls in love with Maria Marais, unaware that her father is Professor Daniel Marais, an apartheid advocate. P. K.’s best friend, Morrie Guilbert, declares the relationship doomed, while P. K. laments the country’s racial divisions. Morrie encourages P. K. to focus on boxing, and introduces him to Hoppie Gruenewald, who agrees to let the talented teenager train at his gym. P. K. notices several young black men at the gym and remarks on Hoppie’s acceptance of “mixing.” Hoppie laughs and declares that, inside the boxing ring, all men are equal. Later, P. K. visits Prof. Marais to ask permission to date Maria. Aware of P. K.’s liberal ideas about equality for all people, the professor refuses the request. However, Maria follows P. K. to Hoppie’s gym and informs him that she is willing to date in secret. At the gym, P. K. receives an invitation to fight against a black man, Gideon Duma, in Alexandra, a black township. Morrie and P. K. point out that an official mixed-race boxing match is illegal. When Gideon’s manager refers to Geel Piet’s prophecy about the Rainmaker, P. K. realizes he must fight. On the night of the match, P. K. struggles to hold his own against Gideon, much to the delight of the black crowd. When he finally knocks Gideon out, the crowd falls silent. However, Gideon shows admiration for his opponent, declaring him the Rainmaker, and the crowd begins chanting enthusiastically. At the end of the night, Maria thanks P. K. for showing her another side of South Africa. They make plans to attend the senior ball together. The next day, P. K. returns to Alexandra to go jogging with Gideon, who suggests he help teach English to the townsfolk, most of whom still speak Zulu. When P. K. resists, Gideon storms away. Trekking through the outback, P. K. changes his mind. He and Morrie ask their headmaster, St. John, about hosting a language class for Africans in one of the school classrooms. St. John warns the young men that the endeavor violates Afrikaner law, but agrees to support them. P. K. invites Maria to the first class. She reminds him that the senior ball is that night, and becomes angry when P. K. insists the study group is more important. Maria makes plans to attend the ball with another boy. However, on the night of the dance, she has a change of heart, and goes to P. K.’s school to help teach the Africans. A few days later, St. John informs Morrie and P. K. that Afrikaner authorities know about the language class and want it terminated. Later, officials show up at Hoppie’s gym. P. K. recognizes Sgt. Botha as one of his tormentors from the boarding school he attended as a child. Botha brutalizes Gideon, professes his hatred for P. K., and threatens to destroy Hoppie’s establishment. That night, P. K. visits Maria and asks her to come with him to England, where he plans to attend Oxford University. She agrees. In the month before leaving for Oxford, Morrie and P. K. resume teaching English. One night, Afrikaner police storm the small church where class is held, and in the chaos, Maria is killed. Hundreds of Africans gather at her funeral, singing sorrowfully. Later, Gideon asks P. K. to forgo his scholarship to Oxford and remain in Alexandra as a teacher. P. K. agrees and the town celebrates. However, Sgt. Botha organizes a raid on Alexandra, seeking to arrest P. K. A fight ensues, and Botha dies. P. K. and Gideon set out on foot the next day, determined to work together to fight racial injustice in South Africa.