After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, Scottish physician Nicholas Garrigan flies to Uganda to work at a missionary clinic. And before long, Garrigan has a chance encounter with General Idi Amin, the country's new president. As one thing leads to another, Idi Amin invites Nicholas to become his personal doctor, aiming to modernise Uganda's health care system. Indeed, this is a once-in-a-lifetime offer Garrigan cannot refuse. Instead, as Garrigan plays with fire, he soon finds himself trapped in the moral abyss of Idi Amin's murderous megalomania. Can Garrigan rise above the madness and live to tell the tale?