Koestler is the head doctor at an African mission, a rough and difficult job which he enjoys with the vigor and independence of a New Zealander. He takes his dinner alone and feeds his pet baboon Babbitt banana and whisky as he eats. One night Babbitt gets ravishingly drunk, scampers off with the bottle and begins performing antics at a perilous treetop height. Koestler is worried but cannot help because he is called off to treat a snakebite. Babbitt spends the rest of the day hungover and shameful, and refuses the usual concoction.

Koestler eats with two newly arrived doctors, Indiana and Chicago, and their pilot Hartman instead. Hartman gripes about the rising political instability and low wages at the job, thinking about selling his plane and heading back to Australia. The two new docs marvel at their new surroundings, and Koestler preps them for the grueling day ahead at the leper colony. Koestler and Hartman riff about their myriad experiences out in the jungle, medical travesties, and their knowledge of the mission staff.

Hartman grows more abrasive throughout the evening, mocking Indiana with homophobic slang when he expresses his noble intentions in Africa. The two bicker at every turn in the conversation, silenced only by Koestler. The party gets high and rowdy until Father Stuart admonishes them and steals their radio. After a return to calmer conversation, Hartman suddenly jumps up and tackles Indiana. They throw themselves at each other until Chicago and Koestler drag them apart. Hartman coolly lights a cigar and says goodnight. Conversation lulls, and Babbitt steals the bottle of whisky yet again and disappears. After the new doctors go to bed, Koestler stays out searching the brush for his drunk, stoned baboon.