Against his wishes, spoiled New York teenager Harry Winslow accompanies his father to the Kalahari desert in Africa to spend time with family acquaintances Paul and Elizabeth Parker. As he struggles to adjust to life without the technologies and amusements of home, Harry clashes with the Parkers’ spirited 14-year-old daughter, Nonnie, who wishes to follow in Paul's footsteps as a wildlife commissioner fighting against Africa's elephant poachers. That night, Nonnie and the family dog, Hintza, sneak out of the house to meet Nonnie's bushman friend, Xhabbo. Harry follows them to a cave, where they spend the night to recover Xhabbo's strength after he is attacked by a leopard. At dawn, Nonnie hears gunshots and runs back to the house to discover that her parents and Harry's father have been murdered for investigating the export of ivory, a poaching operation secretly run by Paul Parker's associate, John Ricketts. As poachers plunder the house, Ricketts realizes Nonnie and Harry are missing. Remaining out of sight, Nonnie grabs explosives from the garage and attaches them to the bottom of their truck, killing several of Ricketts’ men. She flees to the cave and Xhabbo advises them to “follow the wind” by heading west across the Kalahari Desert. On the edge of the desert, Xhabbo communicates with a herd of elephants and convinces them to cover their tracks by following behind. Harry is furious to learn they have 2,000 miles to travel before reaching the seaport of Karlstown, but Nonnie remains optimistic. Meanwhile, the Parkers’ close friend, Colonel Mopani Theron, learns of the attack and, unaware of Ricketts' involvement, orders Ricketts to lead an aerial search party to find the missing children. Although Harry attempts to flag down the helicopter as it soars overhead, Nonnie worries they could be poachers and instructs her companions to hide. As a trick, the children remove their clothes, stuff them with straw, and lay them in the sand. Nonnie watches in horror as Ricketts pulls out his gun and shoots the fake bodies until he believes they are dead. Over the next two months, the runaways dig up plant roots for sustenance, and Xhabbo teaches Harry how to speak his native language and hunt gemsbok. During this time, Col. Theron remains convinced that the Parkers’ death was a corporate conspiracy, and continues his tireless search for the exporters’ store of elephant tusks, which he believes will lead him to the murderer. At Xhabbo's encouragement, Harry presents Nonnie with a vest made from gemsbok pelt. That night, Nonnie and Harry mourn the loss of their parents and share a hug. Near a remote general store, the owner's hunting dogs chase the fugitives across a gorge, but they escape with only minor injuries. A few days later, Ricketts meets a buyer at the same shop and notices that the owner is in possession of Nonnie's necklace, which she lost in the scuffle. Suspecting the children are still alive, Ricketts kills his right-hand man for failing to ensure the bodies were buried. As Nonnie, Harry, and Xhabbo succumb to the heat of the desert sun, a scorpion stings Xhabbo. He tells his friends to continue without him, but Nonnie and Harry insist they stay together. When Nonnie wanders off in search of water, she collapses in the sand. Hearing the hum of Ricketts’ approaching helicopter, Nonnie and Xhabbo weakly thump their chests in the spiritual Bushman practice of “tapping,” which summons a sandstorm that forces Ricketts to flee. Unaware they are only a few yards away from the Atlantic coast, the three young people fall unconscious and awaken in a Karlstown hospital. There, Nonnie is reunited with Col. Theron and informs him that Ricketts was responsible for her parents’ deaths. Once they recover, Nonnie and Harry accompany Col. Theron to Ricketts’ mining facility, where they find his hoard of elephant tusks. Nonnie insists the remains must be buried, and they begin to rig the facility with dynamite when Ricketts arrives to stop them. Harry traps Ricketts under a pile of tusks, and Nonnie holds him at gunpoint, but cannot shoot. Together, they lead the perpetrator outside and light the fuse. Unable to see his fortune destroyed, Ricketts runs back into the mine in an attempt to extinguish the flame, but the dynamite explodes and buries him beneath the rock. Sometime later, Nonnie and Harry say goodbye to Xhabbo, who returns to the Kalahari. Harry kisses Nonnie before boarding an aircraft home to New York, and Nonnie tells him to leave without looking back. However, as she and Col. Theron begin cleaning the charred remains of the Parker home, Harry returns, and the children embrace.
Film historian and reviewer Leonard Maltin in his account, had mixed reactions to the storyline. While he considered the plot "Borderline-slow but head-on straight", he worried that the "frank treatment of death makes this iffy for young kids, but older children should find it rewarding."
