The entire plot of the novel revolves around the attempts of property developers to remove the Maori community from land that is rightfully theirs, using increasingly underhanded tactics that culminate in the murder of Toko. This is foreshadowed by references to the Te Ope tribe who, during World War I, were tricked into giving their land to the government and consequently lost both their land and houses. However, the experiences of the Tamiahanas and the Te Ope people are not just a result of modernization and capitalist land development, but of attempts by colonial and postcolonial societies to marginalize them to the point of extinction. The institutionalized discrimination that the Maori have endured throughout history is acknowledged by Hemi, who comments on the education system's attempts to both disregard and censure his people's ancestors, customs and language. Similarly, Roimata comments on her people's severe underrepresentation in literature. Moreover, the subjugation of indigenous populations by western civilizations has firm roots in the history of colonization, which Roimata alludes to when she describes the stories her people tell of the money and power that "had broken our tribes and our backs, and made us slaves" (132).