Mark Mathabane is born into a poverty-stricken black family in South Africa during the apartheid years. Throughout his childhood, Mark suffers hunger, witnesses violence, and learns to hate and fear whites.

At his mother's insistence, he starts school and promises to stay there. Though he hates it at first, he grows to love learning; it opens another world for him. He is obviously an intelligent young man and quickly rises to the top of the class, despite the fact that the school metes out frequent punishments to Mark because his family is often late paying school fees and can't afford the uniforms and books. When Mark graduates from primary school at the top of the class, he earns a scholarship to pay for secondary school, enabling him to continue his education.

When Mark's grandmother starts working as a gardener for a kind white family, it opens two important doors for Mark: books and tennis. The Smiths send comic books and classics like Treasure Island home with Granny for her grandson. Mark's voracious reading teaches him English. With the tennis racket that the Smiths send, Mark starts hitting a ball around at tennis courts in Alexandra. Soon enough he becomes friends with a black tennis player who starts to train him.