While buying kilos of hashish in India, American smuggler Hugo Winter is offered a sample of a rare herb from Uganda called Bulu, which is said to bestow the powers of prophecy. In a Bulu trance, Hugo has a shocking, mystical vision of himself in Uganda. When things go badly for him in India, Hugo flees home to his family in London. Now deep in debt to dangerous gangsters, Hugo must find a way out, fast. Acting on his prophetic vision, Hugo travels to Africa to find more of this life-changing new drug and solve his money problems.

In Uganda, Hugo’s Bulu visions lead him to a god-fearing farmer called Kisakye. This strong-willed young lady has unwillingly inherited the role of her late father, the village shaman, who cultivated and took Bulu to protect his village. Since the death of her father, Kisakye’s ancestral land has been grabbed by the local pastor, Isaac. While Kisakye distrusts Bulu as ‘Satanic’, she needs money and agrees to work with Hugo to sell the drug abroad. However, Kisakye’s sister Angela, has her own plans. She is working with a criminal gang to try and get Bulu out into the world market and sees Hugo as both an opportunity and a threat.

After a close call with the criminal gang, Hugo and Kisakye travel deep into the Ugandan forest to the remote village of Makaana, where Kisakye cultivates Bulu in secret. Soon after they arrive, Hugo finds himself contending with the suspicions of the villagers and with the competing agendas of Kisakye and Angela. Kisakye is more honest, but she is uncomfortable with Hugo’s wild ways and her new role as a drug dealer. Meanwhile, Angela’s eagerness to close the deal becomes increasingly appealing when Hugo receives bad news from London about his family. As Hugo becomes entangled in webs of religion, romance and treachery, his growing addiction to the mysterious Bulu threatens both his sanity and his very life. Compelled to take more Bulu to find out what happens next, Hugo’s visions increasingly point to a dark and troubling end.