The Promise is a family saga spanning four decades, each of which features a death in the family. It concerns the Afrikaner Swarts family and their farm located outside Pretoria. The family consists of Manie, his wife Rachel, and their children Anton, Astrid, and Amor. The titular promise in the novel is Rachel's dying wish, in 1986, that their Black domestic servant, Salome, be given ownership of a house on the family's property. This promise, overheard by a young Amor, is made by Manie but not fulfilled. After nearly a decade, the siblings reunite at the family farm after their father suffers a fatal snakebite. Anton inherits the house and assures Amor he will follow through on the promise but does not do so. Another decade passes, and tension grows between the siblings as Astrid and Anton resist Amor's appeals to honor the promise and legally transfer the property to Salome, who now lives in it.