Apartheid in South Africa affected many people most of all those of colour. This story although completely fictional, brings home some of the hardships and cruelty a small coloured girl and her white mother have to endure during her upbringing. However when Estelle meets Alex, things change for the better for Nina in some respects. Later after many revelations Estelle and Alex realize that Nina's and her mother's lives would have been different without the pressures, rules and regulations that Apartheid had in place at the time.