Nada the Lily is set at the time of Chaka, the Zulu king, around whom much of the action turns, but essentially the book is the story of Umslopogaas, and of "his love for Nada, the most beautiful of Zulu women". They have been brought up as brother and sister but Umslopogaas is really Chaka's son. It is narrated by Mopo the father of Nada and doctor to Chaka, who has a claim on Chaka because he saved the life of Chaka and his mother when they were outcast wanderers. During the course of the novel Umslopogaas teams up with Galazi the Wolf, who lives on Ghost Mountain and has power over the resident wolf pack. The story ends tragically when Nada, fleeing the wrath of Dingaan following the assassination of Chaka, takes refuge in a cave on the mountain. Galazi dies in her defence but the cave proves her tomb as she is unable to open the stone door she has closed behind her. (Umslopogaas appears again in Haggard's She and Allan and in Allan Quatermain he is an old man and dies heroically.
