A Sparrow Falls by Wilbur Smith is a riveting tale that begins with the war in France, and follows three combatants back to Africa. Mark Anders and Fergus MacDonald are a crack sniper team in France, but when Mark is shot, the war is over for him. He goes home, looking forward to being with his grandfather, only to find that he is dead. As he looks into the death, he becomes a target himself, and the closer he looks the more foul the story of his grandfather's accident is. After two attempts on his life, Mark realizes his grandfather was murdered so that a group of men could gain access to 'Andersland' and the water on it. Dirk Courtney's greed knows no bounds as he tries to gain access to land slated as a National Park so that he can dam a gorge and flood the Bubezi Valley creating more farmland and increasing his net worth. Mark if forced to flee Ladyburg, and stays for a short time in Fordsburg with his old partner Fergus MacDonald and his wife Helena but they have become deeply involved in the Marxist/Communist movement, supporting the uprising of the workers against the bosses and government in general.

Mark leaves and takes a job at a car dealership where he crosses paths once more with his old General from France, Sean Courtney. In a quirk of fate, Mark winds up in Sean's employ and helps him to bring down the civil uprising led by his old partner Fergus, killing Fergus and his wife Helena in the process. When martial law is lifted, Mark is still seeking the truth surrounding his grandfather's death, and wants to find his grave. Sean Courtney wrangles a position for Mark that he can't turn down, making him warden of the newly ratified National Park at Chaka's Gate, which just happens to be the last place his grandfather was seen. He falls in love with the General's daughter, Storm, and their secret affair results in a pregnancy that Storm keeps from Mark because she and Mark fight over his plans for the future. Storm leaves to save face, and marries but her husband is only interested in her father's money, and the marriage is short lived. When Mark hears that she is married, he loses hope, and marries someone else. Marion is more in love with her rising status than she is with Mark, but she goes with him to Chaka's Gate.

The twists in this story continue, as the fight over Chaka's Gate and the Bubezi River Valley seems all but lost to Mark and Sean when Sean's son Dirk takes over Sean's seat in Parliament and works to push through the development of the area. He almost succeeds, but nature wins out, and love prevails when Marion is killed by a lioness and Mark and Storm find each other again. The story doesn't end there, and in an explosive finish Mark and Sean both believe they've lost everything, and the Courtney family ends up ensuring the permanent security of the natural beauty of Chaka's Gate and the Bubezi River Valley.