Entering into the life of Mundy, we see him as a boy, a young groom, a soldier at the Battle of Isandlwana and as a horse-drawn hackney driver in an age of cars. The plot mainly exists to describe the various bygone times and to reflect on how time changes. Dramatic moments, like Mundy losing his wife to a slicker rival, or being part of a huge military defeat in Africa, are described but mainly exist to give Mundy something to reflect on.